Forced into prostitution, a Nigerian lady in her early 20s thanked her stars when she attracted the support of Nhyira FM’s Obra Program to break free from a vocation she was not prepared for.
Jemila traveled from her base in Abuja to Ghana to seek greener pastures after completing her senior high school examination. She succeeded in traveling with the help of her best friend who lived in Ghana.
“I told my friend I wanted to join her in Ghana and she said I should wait. She made me understand that she was operating a boutique where she sells clothes.
“When I arrived on a Sunday evening, she told me we should go out and work. When I asked about the type of work, she said it was ‘ashawo’ [prostitution] and I told her I could not do that work.
“But she said I had to pay for the money she spent on bringing me to Ghana. I followed her to work for a week and fled Saturday morning while pretending to be cleaning the room,” Jemila recounted her ordeal to Mama Effe, host of the Obra show.
She received Gh50 for sleeping with men, and the money was always collected by her friend after servicing a client.
To authenticate her story, some commercial drivers testified to her plight.
“It was around 11:30 AM while I was plying the Ejisu road, I had one passenger left to drop when this lady signaled me to stop, but I ignored it. But the passenger convinced me to take her because it might be an emergency. This is because she only had a shirt on with cloth around her waist.
“When we got to the station, she was still inside the car and told me she was a stranger and didn’t even know the place. I therefore called my colleague driver, and we sent her to a hotel which is far from that area because she said her friend was looking for her,” narrated Vincent, a taxi driver.
Jemila, who felt deceived by her childhood friend, pleaded with Mama Effe and the audience of the Obra Show to help her return to Nigeria.
“My friend suspected I wanted to run away, so she informed her boss, who is also a Nigerian, and they planned to sell me to another mistress. I asked my friend about it when I found out, but she denied it. Mommy I want to go home,” she pleaded.
Tough by her ordeal, the audience of the Obra Show made cash donations while Mama Effe made the necessary arrangements for her return to Nigeria.
Jemila, in her pain and anguish due to the forceful prostitution by her own best friend and countrywoman finally had peace and smiled when she was given an undisclosed amount of money, in addition to her travel expenses.
She left Ghana a happy soul.