Adenike described travelling through Niger Republic with other migrants, enduring three months in the desert with little food or water. “We begged for food and drank our urine when thirsty,” she recalled.
A Nigerian returnee, Olaonipekun Adenike, has described harrowing experiences of rape, starvation, and human trafficking during her attempt to reach Libya by road.
Speaking to Punch, the 30-year-old single mother of two from Sagamu, Ogun State, revealed she was lured by her mother’s friend with promises of a better life abroad.
“I wouldn’t have embarked on the journey if I knew this was how it was going to end,” she said. Adenike described travelling through Niger Republic with other migrants, enduring three months in the desert with little food or water. “We begged for food and drank our urine when thirsty,” she recalled.
She said policemen at an unnamed border raped her and other women before letting them go. “It happened once, and it was not just me,” she explained.
Upon arrival in Libya, she discovered she had been sold to a Ghanaian man who changed her identity and forced her into domestic servitude and prostitution. After escaping a brothel, she found refuge at the Nigerian embassy before returning home.
She now runs The Foundation for Action against Irregular Migration to raise awareness of human trafficking.
“We begged for food and drank our urine when thirsty. It was not an easy journey for me,” Olaonipekun Adenike told Punch as she described her traumatic migration experience.