Liberian immigration has repatriated 11 surviving Nigerians who stowed away on board a Panama-flagged cargo vessel, MV Ophelia
The comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) at the international wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, Mr. Adeola Adesokan said in a statement that returnees came aboard ASKY Airlines, Flight KP062 on Thursday, October 6.
He said the 11 were among the 13 Nigerians and a Cameroonian who tried to leave the country onboard the cargo ship.
Of the 13, he said two died on the high sea after they were tortured by the crew.
He said 11 Nigerians and one Cameroonian aged between 24 and 40 were escorted to Nigeria a 9-man team of Liberia immigration officers led by one Capt. Mark J Weaye.
He gave their names as Seyi Popoola, Precious Uwalogho, Ayetimiyi Kelvin, Stephen Junior, Emmanuel Benjamin, Balogun Gbenga, Temiotan Adewale, Igiebor Stephen, Hamza John, Alfred Ese and Ogechi Chika and an unnamed Cameroonian
According to reports, the stowaways sneaked into the basement of Ophelia Panama, at Tin Can Island, Apapa, Lagos, around 12 midnight on Wednesday, September 7, 2022 after transporting themselves on a smaller boat to the ship.
They boarded with their personal belongings and food items, hoping that they would make it to Europe.
The ship set out for Europe in the morning, without the knowledge of the crew.
However, the adventurers ran short of food supply on the fifth day of the trip.
Fearing that they might starve to death, they mustered the little energy left and approached the crew with the hope of scurrying their sympathy.
But they were all disappointed as the crew subjected them to severe physical and mental torture.
They were, thereafter, cast overboard in threes.
Two Nigerians, simply called Frank and Osas, died in the process, a Cameroonian drowned while the remaining eleven were rescued by Liberian fishermen who tended to their injuries and before alerting Liberian Immigration Service.
“We met each other on the ship; we are 14 with one Cameroonian. We moved from Nigerdock entering the vessel through the rudder side. When the ship was moving after four days our food finished and so we wanted help from the crew. Unfortunately, the crew started spraying us chemicals which were burning our skins while demanding us to jump into the high seas,” one of the survivours narrated.
“We discovered they are bonafide Nigerians making efforts to run away from the shores of the country. Their story is very harrowing, very pitiable,” Adesokan said
Meanwhile, the NIS, Kebbi State Command has arrested a Bida, Niger State-born Islamic cleric, Mr. Husseini Sulieman Idris, trafficking 21 children from Nigeria to Mauritania and Senegal through the Kebbi border post.
The state comptroller of NIS, Rabi Bashir Nuhu, told journalists in Birnin Kebbi that the suspected human trafficker was arrested at Kangiwa border post of the in Arewa local government area of the state he attempted to move the children out of the country with fake ECOWAS passports.
Nuhu said upon interrogation, the cleric claimed he was taking the children to Senegal for Maulud celebration from where he planned to move them to Mauritania to acquire Islamic education.
The comptroller said investigation revealed that the ECOWAS passports with which the cleric brandished were fake.
“From what he told us, we suspected the cleric was trafficking in the children out of Nigeria. What is disturbing is that the victims are minors, particularly the two girls that are among the 19 boys.
“Though the cleric, Sulieman claimed he was moving the children to Mauritania with the consent of their parents, we don’t believe him. We know the children are being trafficked,” the comptroller added.
