Woman contacts police in Benin after church member woos Mali-returnee daughter for Kenya trip

Mother of a 16-year-old trafficked teenager, Mrs Peace Aizoba, has cried out over a fresh attempt by a church member to traffic her daughter, Favour, to Kenya.

The petty trader said the Junior Secondary School student in Benin City, Edo State, was in June 2021 kidnapped, along with other girls, in a commercial bus on her way back from school and trafficked to Mali, where she was recruited into prostitution by her traffickers before her escape two months after.

Favour, however, returned pregnant with a set of twins, which she lost due to complications.

Speaking with journalists on Monday in Benin, her mother said another suspected trafficker, known as Joel, who attended the same church with her daughter, was mounting pressure on her to be trafficked again.

She said the new attempt had been reported to the police area command in Benin.

Mrs Aizoba, who was in the company of her daughter, said, “After my daughter returned last year, we went for a medical test and a scan. We discovered that she was pregnant with twins. We were worried about how she would give birth to a child we did not know the father because she was raped. I told the doctors I did not want an abortion because it is against my religious belief.

“At one point, she kept complaining of pain and the doctors said it was conception pain, which persisted. She eventually gave birth prematurely to twins at the Central Hospital. We were asked to take the mother and babies to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, where the babies would be kept in incubators.

“On getting there, we were told that the incubators were filled, so we were referred to Modic Hospital, where the babies were pronounced dead. My daughter almost lost her life.

“As if that was not enough, another person is luring my daughter this time to travel to Kenya. He has been pestering her with calls. We recorded his calls to her and we have reported the matter to the police for action”.

Favour said the man asking her to travel with him to Kenya was a member of their church and on a mission to recruit other young girls for his boss, who was said to be based in the East African country.