Showing posts with label sex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sex. Show all posts

Monday, January 4, 2021

The story behind ‘Oloture,’ Nigeria’s Netflix sex-trafficking drama

Clad soberly in a checkered knee-length dress, Tobore Ovuorie hardly seems as if she once walked the streets of Lagos in a revealing outfit and high heels.

A freelance reporter with a burning desire to uncover the truth about a sordid backstreet trade, Ovuorie dressed as streetwalker to infiltrate a prostitution ring.

She took on the dangerous mission after a friend left for Europe, became a sex worker and died, leaving Ovuorie shocked and beset with questions.

Today, Ovuorie's remarkable story has been turned into a hit Netflix film, Oloture, which has shone a bright light on one of Nigeria's darkest trades.

"I needed to do justice, to know the truth. I wanted to know the process, the back story about these ladies," the 39-year-old reporter told AFP.

By dressing up, she sought to gain the prostitutes' trust - the first step to introducing her to a "madam," a pimp.

After eight months working undercover in 2013, Tobore Ovuorie emerged with a terrifying account about the victims of sex trafficking.

Some were sent to Europe, where they were coerced into becoming sex workers. Others were forced to participate in orgies organized by local politicians. Some became victims of organ trafficking for ritual crimes.

She published her story in 2014 in the Nigerian newspaper Premium Times and Dutch investigative magazine, Zam Chronicles, inspiring a production company in Nigeria to adapt it for the screen.

Released in October on Netflix, the story has been widely watched and applauded in its home country, Africa's most populous market.

"Sometimes investigative journalists in search of the story become the story," director Kenneth Gyang told AFP.

But in this case, the reporter was also "the torch that led us into the lives" of victims, he said.

Disillusion

Sex trafficking is rife in Nigeria, in particular in southern Benin City, a recruiting ground for criminal gangs who smuggle women to Europe.

How many are trafficked is unknown but in Italy, authorities say that between 10,000 and 30,000 Nigerians are prostitutes.

Several thousand others are stuck in Libya or other African countries, often exploited by criminals who make them believe they will one day reach Europe.

In the film, a journalist named Oloture, playing the part of Ovuorie during her investigation, heads to neighboring Benin with a dozen other girls.

From there, their "madam" promises they will depart to Europe in exchange for money (up to $85,000) that they will have to repay once they arrive in Italy.

Very quickly, the journey turns sour.

Instead of heading to the country's border, their minibus stops in a gloomy training camp on the outskirts of Lagos.

There, the girls are roughed up and divided into two groups: "street" prostitutes and "special" prostitutes reserved for wealthier clients.

On screen, the most gripping character is Linda, a young uneducated woman from a poor rural background, who becomes friends with Oloture.

Linda "represents many of those young ladies and how they get in disillusion" said Ovuorie, who came across such a character during her investigation.

For the director, it is exciting that the film is a success in Nigeria.

"We have to see how to make this film available in remote places for young vulnerable women who might be susceptible to be trafficked to Europe," said Gyang.

Emotional toll

On social media, the movie - and its ending - have triggered passionate debate.

"For most of these ladies there is never any light at the end of the tunnel," said Gyang, "so why would you try to make a film that would end on a happy note?"

Ovuorie said that what she saw and experienced during her investigation still haunts her - she is trying to find the women she was meant to go to Europe with, and tell their stories.

Her work has inflicted a heavy emotional cost, she said.

"I'm a shadow of myself, I try to smile, to look bright, but most of the time it's been just me fighting to hold onto life."

AFP 

Related story: New Nollywood film shines a light on human trafficking in Nigeria

Video - Nigerian women trafficked to Europe for prostitution at 'crisis level'

Thursday, November 28, 2019

47 Nigerian men plead not guilty to homosexuality charge

Forty-seven Nigerian men pleaded innocent on Wednesday to a charge of public displays of affection with members of the same sex, an offence that carries a 10-year jail term.

Homosexuality is outlawed in many socially conservative African societies where some religious groups brand it a corrupting Western import.

The Nigerian men, who appeared at a court in the commercial capital Lagos, were among 57 arrested in a police raid on a hotel in the impoverished Egbeda district of the city in 2018.

Police said they were being “initiated” into a gay club, but the accused said they were attending a birthday party.

The trial is a test case for a law banning gay marriage, punishable by a 14-year jail term, and same-sex “amorous relationships”. It caused international outcry when it came into force under former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

Nobody has yet been convicted under the law, prosecution and defence lawyers in the case told Reuters. But Human Rights Watch and other activists say it has been used to extort bribes from suspects in exchange for not pursuing charges.

“Police officers will stop you and then get you arrested, extort money from you and begin to call you names,” Smart Joel, one of the defendants, told Reuters before the hearing. “I just wish the case will be quickly dismissed as soon as possible,” added Joel, 25, who runs a laundry and dry cleaning business.

Spokesmen for Nigeria’s police and ministry of justice did not respond to text messages and phone calls seeking comment on the extortion allegations.

Activists working to protect rights of sexual minorities in Nigeria said they were tired of harassment.

“The vagueness of the law makes it impossible to get a conviction,” Xeenarh Mohammed, executive director of the Lagos-based Initiative for Equal Rights (TIERS), told Reuters. “What does ‘amorous showing of same-sex affection’ mean?” she added.

The case was adjourned until Dec. 11.

The judge granted each of the men bail, provided they can post 500,000 naira ($1,634.52) and provide a surety who is either a civil servant or resides in Lagos state and has a “reasonable” income.

Reuters

Related stories: Bill banning gay marriage approved in Nigeria

Hunting down gays in Nigeria

Video - Nigeria's anti-gay law denounced