BY Victor Akinkuolie, Ado-Ekiti

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The National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) Ekiti State chapter, has paraded a middle- aged man, Ojo Abefe, over alleged child trafficking.

The suspect, a native of Ada in Oroade local government area of Osun State, was alleged to have sold two females;  a graduate of Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, and a minor to Mali for prostitution.

Parading the suspect, the Ekiti State Head of Operations, NAPTIP, Mr Samson Oladimeji, confirmed that the suspect was handed over to the agency by operatives of the anti-child trafficking of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, (NSCDC), Ekiti State.

Oladimeji lamented that the act of human trafficking has become rampant in the state and must be curtailed by all means.

He confirmed that in the last few months, about eighteen suspects have been arrested between January and September, while 23 victims have so far been rescued from Libia, Mall, Togo and Bokinafaso.

He said the suspect who is currently undergoing investigations at the office of the agency in Ado-Ekiti would be arraigned in court immediately investigation is completed on the matter.

Oladimeji revealed that many victims of child trafficking were being dangerously exposed to exploitation, prostitution, slavery and other nefarious acts that often subject them to all manners of harrowing experiences, deaths and untold sufferings.

He added that most pathetic was the fact that those falling victims are majorly children of school age and those from less privileged backgrounds.

He warned that the agency will not spare whoever caught in the web of such unwholesome and criminal act in the state, saying they will be made to face the full weight of the law.

Narrating her ordeal, one of the rescued victims, Oluwatosin Apata, said Abefe sold her to an agent, who attempted to lure her into prostitution.

She said she spent four months in Mali, before she was rescued out of the country and later returned to Nigeria.