How We Were Lured To Abuja With Job Offers And Held Hostage - Five Women Tell Their Story

Five women who were promised jobs as restaurant attendants and housemaids in Abuja have been left stranded following a dispute with a female agent who allegedly held them hostage.

The women, including three who are single, a divorcee, and a widow, traveled from Kaduna after visiting a relative to look for work.

They claimed the agent held them against their will.

Abuja Metro learnt that the women arrived in the city on a Thursday evening and were taken to Mabushi village, a slum known for its nightlife and illicit activities.

In an interview on Friday on the “Brekete Family” talk show on Human Rights Radio & TV monitored by our reporter, the women claimed the agent was now demanding N25,000 from each of them for their freedom after they rejected the jobs she offered.

The women lamented that the job offered was not the restaurant or housemaid position they were promised, but rather involved “immoral behavior.”

One of the victims, 20-year-old Asma’u Ibrahim, said she left her hometown of Katsina and visited her elder sister in Kaduna three days earlier.

“My sister promised to get me a job and connected me with a female agent. The agent told me there were no available jobs in Kaduna, but she had a restaurant job in Abuja.

‘’She told me and the four other women that the younger ones could work as waitresses, and those who had been married could be cooks.

“When we arrived in Abuja, the agent gathered us in front of some other women who were supposed to categorize our jobs based on our marital status and take us to our assigned locations. ‘’We were all asked to be honest about our status, whether we had been married or had children. I told them I had been married and had two children. Based on my status, I was told I would be selling cooked food at the roadside here in Abuja and working until midnight. We spent our first night in front of a shop with a mix of men and women who were gambling all night. This was the opposite of what we were promised, which was to be housed in a single restaurant.”

Another victim, 25-year-old Aisha Sunusi, also from Katsina, said her aunt in Kaduna had called her and told her a job was waiting for her and she should come quickly.

“However, two days after my arrival, the job wasn’t ready, so I decided to travel back to Katsina. I was woken up on Thursday morning and told there was a restaurant job available in Abuja and that I should prepare for the journey.

“We arrived in Abuja that evening, and a single plate of food was given to us and another group, making a total of 11 people,” Aisha explained.

He added, “Afterward, the agent told us some of us would work at the restaurant and be paid N2,000 daily, while others would be housemaids. We were all made to stand up and then directed to turn around as part of a procedure to ‘sort out the best among us.’ Those with lighter skin were chosen over those with darker skin, in addition to age being a factor.”

Aisha said their first night was “miserable,” as no one was able to sleep comfortably due to the men mingling around the location.

“When some of us complained to the agent, she demanded N25,000 each for the trip expenses and her efforts to get us the jobs before she would give us our freedom. We were left in a dilemma, as none of us had any money to travel back to Kaduna, let alone pay her the amount she demanded,” Aisha lamented.

She said they were left stranded until a woman consoled them and advised them to take the matter to the Human Rights Radio & TV programme for intervention.

“I had to use my mobile phone as collateral to get N2,000, which we used for a taxi to this media house,” Aisha disclosed.

Other women who appeared on the program, including Khadijatu Kubura, a widow and mother of two from Kano; Zahara’u Ibrahim from Jigawa state; and Aisha Yusha’u from Funtua in Katsina state, have all asked the public for help through the media platform.

In response, the programme host, Maryam Mbaka alleged that the women involved in the matter could be part of a cartel that exploits many women due to illiteracy and poverty.

Sulaiman Abdurrazaq, another host also known as Akaramakallah, vowed to take the matter to the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Ajao Saka Adewale, for police intervention.