From Nigeria To Nightmare: Heartbreaking Stories Of Trafficking Victims Behind Bars In Benin Republic

In the bleak cells of Porto-Novo prison in Benin Republic, Fadogba James’ mind wandered back to his life in Nigeria, his late wife, and his only child. His voice was laced with the bitter taste of regret as he narrated how he was lured into Benin Republic by a lucrative job offer that promised a life of success.

But it was all a trick. 

During his 11 years as a private security officer in Lagos, James was able to keep his daughter in school and provide his family with other basic needs. At a time he was climbing the ladder to become a chief security officer in his office in 2023, one of his junior officers, Joseph Nwabuchi, who had resigned a year earlier and travelled out of the country, called to inform him about a high-paying position with a ‘prestigious company’ in Benin Republic.

“He asked me to send my curriculum vitae in April 2023, and I did. Days later, he sent an interview letter with Surgiasatom Consulting Company,” James told HumAngle.

After the interview, he got an employment letter that seemed too good to be rejected. The monthly salary offered by the fictitious company was ₦1.4 million ($873). While James’s contract with his Nigerian company says he should give a month’s notice before termination of employment, he broke the agreement, leading to the forfeiture of his April 2023 salary. 

“I was eager to leave Nigeria. So, I didn’t bother to give a month’s notice at my workplace where I was earning ₦90,000 ($56) salary,” he said as his voice trembled. “By the time I read the details of the offer, I realised there was a clause saying I needed to pay ₦755,000 ($474) to prepare so many documents, including a residence card, a bank account, and health insurance.”

Job scam

To meet up with the requested money, James sold his car and other valuables. His wife also reached out to some of her friends, who gave her their group savings to support her husband.

On May 8, 2023, he left Nigeria, promising his wife and daughter, Janet, that he would return for good. As HumAngle reported in an earlier forced scam investigation, James was lodged in a hotel for his first few days in Cotonou.

When he got to Parakou, his friend from Nigeria – Nwabuchi, revealed that he would have to work for QNET, a direct-selling company that offers a wide range of premium health, wellness, and lifestyle products and services through its e-commerce platform as an agent.

HumAngle reports how the company has been accused of being a Ponzi scheme used to lure people with fake job offers in different countries of the world. Speaking with HumAngle during an interview in August, Biram Fall, QNET’s Regional General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, denied his firm’s involvement in fake job offers. 

“The accusation of human trafficking mentioned in your reports is too alarming and pretty disturbing to us at QNET. We have long been fighting against what seems to be sophisticated and well-organised syndicates that have been using our brand for illicit activities. They have defrauded so many victims and completely destroyed our reputation as well. We do not condone these activities and we have engaged in a series of public education campaigns for the public not to fall for such scam,” Fall argued.

Asked why his organisation has yet to arrest the human trafficking syndicates exposed by newspapers in the past, Fall said, “We have filed several police complaints in different countries to tackle the misinformation about QNET.” Although he promised to send copies of some of the letters said to have been written, he has yet to do so three weeks after his interview with HumAngle. 

HumAngle contacted Commissariat Central de Cotonou (Central Police Station of Cotonou) for enquiries and comments on the plights of Nigerians in Benin Republic, but they are yet to respond to our requests. 

Tears

Having realised that he had been scammed and was left with nothing but a handful of worthless documents, James protested.

“I told them that I haven’t done anything networking since I was born and won’t be able to join QNET. So, they told me to wait till they got another person as a replacement before I would be refunded.  I was so furious but agreed to wait because I would have to return the thrift my wife took on my behalf when I was leaving Nigeria,” he narrated. 

On June 3, 2023, some police officers invaded the fraudsters’ camp to arrest everyone, including James, who was still waiting for his refund.  He has since then been behind bars. 

“They arrested 68 people from the fraudsters’ den and took us to Parakou Police Station, where we were detained for five days. We were later transferred to Cotonou, where they took my statement. On June 13, 2023, I was arraigned with ten others while the rest, including Nwabuchi, were freed. I am still surprised till now. Despite informing the court that I wasn’t a criminal, the court ordered that we should be remanded at Porto-Novo prison,” James explained in a sorrowful tone. 

When they appeared in court on Dec. 14, 2023, they had no lawyers, and the court sentenced them to seven years imprisonment. However, some of the prisoners who were privileged to get legal representation were released on June 14, leaving him and other Nigerians without lawyers in prison. 

“There’s no evidence to prove that I scammed anyone, but Nigerians are treated like slaves because we don’t have any lawyers. I was only waiting to collect my money back because I took loans from many people in Nigeria, and all of them are still waiting for me,” he added. “I plead with all Nigerians to come to my rescue. I can’t lose my properties, lose my wife, and still serve a seven-year jail term for doing nothing.”

While his incarceration felt like a heavy chain around his daughter’s neck, his wife became sick in Nigeria and died on Oct. 31, 2023. Speaking about the horrible experience, the victim’s daughter,  Janet, said the absence of her parents makes her a boat floating in the middle of a river without an anchor.

“Life hasn’t been easy, but I have to be strong for myself. I feel bad that my father was neglected in prison for an offence he never committed, and my mother died in the middle of the storm. A few months after my mother’s death, the landlord, whom we were owing, gave me a quit notice because he can’t continue to wait for my daddy to come,” said Janet.

Bitter tales

HumAngle also obtained a video of another Nigerian calling on the Federal Government to rescue him from unlawful incarceration. The man, who identified himself as a commercial driver, also said he was lured to Benin Republic by a cruel trafficking gang. 

He sold his bus to fund his journey to Benin because he was eager to leave the day-to-day traffic life in Lagos behind. But as days turned into weeks, he realised the job he came for was a scam. Today, the place he considered a destination of freedom has become captivity. 

“I was waiting for the fraudsters to return my money when the police came to arrest us. They took our statement and subsequently took us to court. The court sentenced me and others to seven years imprisonment without doing anything. There’s nothing to prove me guilty of, and that’s why I am pleading with all Nigerians to come to our rescue. We are suffering in Benin Republic prisons.”

Apart from those who were lured with fake job offers, HumAngle learned that there are some Nigerian youths arrested by proxy by the Republican Police who are currently in illegal incarceration in Benin prisons. In fact, members of the House of Representatives, in November 2023, moved a motion mandating Committees on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights and Diaspora to investigate the incessant mistreatment of Nigerians living in the neighbouring country. 

This was as a result of a case involving Okumab Chika. The Nigerian, schooling in ESFAM University in Port Novo, was at the time arrested and remanded in Akpro-Missérété prison over allegations of internet fraud.

Sources in the prison, however, told HumAngle that there are more victims of alleged internet fraud in captivity. HumAngle was able to speak with one of them, Kelechi Goodluck, a 28-year-old Nigerian who has been in prison since 2021. 

He left Nigeria for a forex course that ended up being a scam in January 2021. Having realised that he had been duped, Goodluck decided to stay back to make some money before returning to Nigeria. 

The decision didn’t end well.  

“I stayed back in Cotonou to do some work since I came in through a legal process and I had my documentation perfected. However, police invaded my house on Nov. 18, 2021, arrested me, took my laptop away, and confiscated my passport. Since they were speaking in French, I couldn’t understand anything. Suddenly, they took my picture, saying forex and crypto trading are not allowed in Benin.

“I was left in the police station for two months until I was arraigned without legal representation on Jan. 10, 2022. The only thing they told me in English was that I had been sentenced to five years imprisonment with an option of the one million CFA ($1,684) fine.” 

He told HumAngle that his prison is a home of suffering where the hope of young Nigerians die.  He added that he shares a cell with dozens of others, who are all victims of circumstance. 

“I met hundreds of Nigerians here in prison, and I explained everything to them. Many of them shared stories of pain, and one of them linked me up with a lawyer,” he told HumAngle during a discreet telephone interview. “We approached the court of appeal in June 2022 and got a verdict in July 2023. Again, we lost. I’ve seen a lot of sick people die in my presence, and Nigerians are among them. I only pray that help locates us.”

Goodluck, however, believes that the meaning of his name would one day locate him and be free to return to his family in Nigeria. Until then, he would hold onto the power of his own resilience in prison. 

Meanwhile, HumAngle has informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja about our findings, and we look forward to assisting them with more information in rescuing the victims of wrongful detention in Benin.