The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a
hotelier, Victor Obano, for allegedly turning a 23-
year-old female job seeker into a commercial sex
worker in the Ijegun area of the state.
The police said Obano, who owned Tisa Hotel,
allegedly lured the victim, Elizabeth, from Akwa
Ibom, promising her employment in Lagos State.
Obano allegedly thereafter turned the job seeker
into a sex worker in the hotel.
Punch Metro learnt that Elizabeth, a mother of
two, reportedly got tired of being a commercial sex
worker, and on October 5, told her elder sister on
the telephone what she was going through.
The sister was said to have informed the police at
the Anti-Robbery Squad of the State Criminal
Investigation and Intelligence Department, Yaba,
leading to Obano’s arrest.
Punch gathered that another accomplice, a
commercial sex worker, identified as Grace Edet,
who allegedly was Elizabeth’s supervisor, was also
picked up by the police.
Speaking with Punch Metro at the command
headquarters, Ikeja, Obano, who admitted to have
brought the victim from Akwa Ibom, said he only
assisted her to find a means of livelihood.
He said, “I am the manager of Tisa Hotel in the
Ijegun waterside. I am not a human trafficker. It
was only this lady that I brought from the village.
I met with her father and he explained her
predicament. She is 23 years old. She has two kids
and she was living a miserable life. So, I decided to
get a job for her.
“The police arrested me because I seized her
phones. They said I did not want her to contact her
family members, but I collected her phone because
I did not want her to have an affair with several
men.
“It was her elder sister who reported the matter
to the police. The victim is with her brother
presently. The arrangement was that I would be
paying her and she would also hustle in the hotel
and send the money to take care of her father.
“The police should let this matter be settled
amicably. It is a family issue.”
The accomplice, Edet, told our correspondent that
Obano had instructed her to train Elizabeth in
commercial sex.
She said, “I have worked in the hotel for some
years. I am a commercial sex worker. When the
manager came back from Akwa Ibom earlier in the
year, he returned with the lady. He handed her
over to me, saying I should teach her some tricks
of the trade.
“I did not know the arrangement between them.
When I asked the lady why she was brought, she
replied that she was asked to hustle at the hotel.
So, I do not have any fault in the matter.”
A police source told our correspondent that Obano
allegedly had more girls he used as commercial sex
workers in his hotel.
The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni,
who paraded the suspects, said the command would
not tolerate any form of crime, urging the public
to always avail the police of credible information.
Punch
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