A 32-year-old woman, identified as Chinoso Okonkwo has been
arrested by police in Lagos State for allegedly using pupils of Secondary Schools
in the Ikate, Surulere area, as commercial sex workers. Okonkwo was arrested on
Wednesday after residents gave the police a tip-off that some teenage
schoolgirls were being taken to a hotel, Sunderland Hotel in Surulere for
sex during school hours.
Okonkwo allegedly worked with a syndicate which usually went
to the school to lure the victims out during school hours. The girls reportedly
always removed their school uniforms and put on clothes provided by the
syndicate. Okonkwo also allegedly posed as a nurse to deceive her victims.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who
paraded the suspect, said investigation was ongoing into the matter.
He said, "Detectives arrested her on Wednesday. Her mode of
operation is to target some secondary schools in the area. She, together with
her cohorts, would go to the schools and get the girls to a hotel. The hotel is
located in Ikate, Surulere. She would change their clothes and use them as sex
slaves.
"She would keep the girls in the hotel until the school
closing time and make them change back into their uniforms. Investigation is
still ongoing, and we will extend it to the hotel and the schools which are
involved. We want to see whether there is connivance between the suspect and
the school authorities."
Speaking to The Punch Okonkwo, a mother of two, said she was
based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where she worked as a trader. She added
that she sometimes came to Lagos to work as a sex worker.
Okonkwo, however, denied knowing any of the schoolgirls,
saying she only worked in the hotel as a commercial sex worker to raise money
for her business in Port Harcourt.
She said, "I am a widow with two children. They are both in
a boarding school in Port Harcourt. I live in Port Harcourt, but I sometimes
come to Lagos to sleep with men at the hotel. I came to Lagos to find a means
of livelihood.
"I use Sunderland Hotel in Surulere. When I was arrested by
the police, I saw three girls, probably aged 10 or 12, who claimed I usually
picked them from school to the hotel.
"I don’t know any of them. In fact, let the police visit the
hotel for investigation. I have never seen them before. I meet men for sex and
they give me money. I use the money to buy clothes and take them to Port
Harcourt to sell. I have been in this job for a long time. I am a familiar face
at the hotel. I do this for a living."
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