Anambra State Government has arrested the woman alleged behind the underaged girl prostitution saga at Oba in Idemili South Council Area of the state, one Mrs Ekpereamaka Okonkwor, popularly known as ‘Nwanyi Ukwu Venza’ and her husband.
The suspects, who hail from Otolo Nnewi in Nnewi North Council Area, were arrested today in Awka, by Police operatives on a tip-off by the state Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Mrs Ify Obi.
It was gathered that the suspect and her husband had come to see the Commissioner to give her some inducement to allow them continue their illegal business, on the arrangement that they will be bringing her monthly returns.
Our investigations revealed that the suspect had in 2019 operated similar brothel in Nnewi where she allegedly locked up three underaged girls used for prostitution in a room and travelled with the keys and when a fire broke out, they were burned to death.
The suspect had gone ahead to give the relatives of the victims money and they opted to settle out of court but she later reneged on the agreement and abandoned them.
Narrating her experience with the suspects, Madam Commissioner, Hon Obinabo revealed how the woman was caught at Nnewi doing the same illegitimate business and she moved to Oba.
“The woman was initially going by the name ‘Padded’ when she was at Nnewi in 2019 and later she relocated to Oba where she bore the name Ukwu Venza, doing the same illegal business.
“In 2019, she locked up some of her underaged girls so that they will not be making money behind her back. This is because she was the one collecting the monies the underaged girls were making as sex workers.
“Unfortunately, an inferno occurred while the suspect was away with the keys and the girls were burned. The suspect went and bribed the parents of the dead girls and they said they wanted out of court settlement and collected the money and that enabled her to continue the illegitimate business. In her usual criminal manner, she never paid the compensation to the victims’ families,” she revealed.
Obinabo said the suspect had contacted her through her husband, to see how they can settle and end the present matter on the Oba case, and she pretended to be playing along, after informing the police and her principal, Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
“My Ministry had gone to arrest the woman but she had disappeared.
“Later, the woman’s husband called me to see how we can settle so that she can be free to continue her illegal business in the state. When I requested that I see her face to face, the husband said she was scared to meet with me for fear that I would arrest her.
“Having spoken to my principal and the police and gotten their assurances, I pretended to be playing along and the husband arranged a meeting with me to ‘water the ground’ at Asaba,” she revealed.
Obinabo continued; “He came and bribed me with N300,000 cash and told me that they will give N2,000,000 if I agree to their terms to allow them continue. They also said they will be giving me monthly returns.
“I collected the money but insisted on seeing the woman in question.
“That was what led to the arrangement for the Awka meeting and when they came, I had already alerted the police and they immediately arrested the woman and her husband.”
She said the government will locate the underaged girls used as sex workers through the arrested suspect, so that they can be rehabilitated to be meaningful citizens in the state in future.
Obinabo stressed that the Soludo’s administration is not ready to tolerate any form of illegality.
“The government wants to use my Ministry to rebuild the society to get it right from the family. If things are gotten right at the family, everything will work well.
“Under the Soludo-led government, the era of using bribery and corruption to get Government backing to do illegality in the state is over. Anyone still doing this kind of illegality should leave the state or be ready to face the music,” she warned.
Meanwhile, when our correspondent spoke with the suspect after she was nabbed, she gave her name as Chioma Okeke and initially denied running a brothel with underaged girls.
However, when she realized she had been caught, she pleaded for mercy.
