Former NBA Awka Branch Chairman Charged to Court for using underage girls to run Brothel
A former Chairman of NBA Awka Branch, ECG Okechukwu Esq was on 20th June 2023 arraigned at Awka Magistrate Court on charges bordering on sexual related offenses.
He was alleged to have procured three underaged girls aged eight to ten years from Ebonyi State and quartered them in his brothel at Amawbia known as Happiness Guest House.
He was alleged to have molested the minors and also offered them to his customers who patronize his brothel.
Information available to Newsmen.com revealed that it was one of his customers who noticed serious bruises on the body of one the girls when he tried to have her. He questioned her about the bruises and she revealed that the bruises were inflicted on her in the brothel when she tried to resist the sexual molestation from other patrons. She supplied her parents phone number to the customer and the customer called the parents. The parents came with police from Ebonyi State arrested everyone found in the brothel along with the senior lawyer over the weekend.
Narrating their ordeal, the victims said they were brought to Awka by one Ifeoma and Chika from their house in Izza, Ebonyi State on the promise of securing job for them but were later forced into prostitution.
When interviewed, the Underaged girls, who are all indigenes of Ebonyi State, said one Ifeoma and Chika brought them to Awka with a promise to offer them sales girl jobs, only for them to be forced into prostitution against their expectations and wishes.
On how they were finally rescued, the girls said one of them smartly used a whistleblower’s phone to get across to their family, while the whistleblower, in turn, notified the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, who, with the help of the police, bursted the brothel and rescued them.
Speaking on the development, the State Commissioner for Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Hon. Obinabo restated the state government’s resolve to end all forms of child kidnap, trafficking and sexual slavery in the State.
She warned hotel owners to desist from defiling using underage girls to run their hotel businesses or be prepared to face the full weight of the law.
While noting that the case had already received Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s attention, the Commissioner further assured that it would not be treated with levity.
A lawyer in Awka, who spoke to Newsblog on condition of anonymity, revealed that some concerned lawyers had written petitions to the NBA concerning the incompatibility of the Former Chairman, Okechukwu Esq, practicing law and running a brothel at the same time but he is not sure of the outcome of the petitions.
Okechukwu Esq who is also holder of the Prestigious Ozo Awka title is also alleged to be presently serving a one year suspension from the Ozo society of Awka for similar offense wherein he was alleged to have sexually defiled a thirteen year old girl last year.
CREDIT: BARRISTERNG.COM
