“Whether you work in a week or not, you must pay the regular dues to the head of the
“For the eight months that I have worked here, I have seen a lot of things. It is just as if we have become ATMs for the police; we are like a source of income or a money pot for them. Just to meet up with their demand and avoid harassment, most of us now have to work more than we should. It has not been easy in recent times,” she said.
At ‘Cool Corner’, another hotel in the community where ladies of different ages and sizes flaunt their ‘assets’ in wait for prospective customers, one commercial
According to her, at least each lady ‘hustling’ at the hotel pays around N5000 as ‘settlement’ to law enforcement officers every week aside from what they churn out for rent. She told Saturday PUNCH that the situation makes them feel like cash cows to the police.
“It is not as if those of us doing this job are proud of it, no. Many of us are doing it because we don’t have other means of survival. But to now imagine that most of what we manage to make these days go into ‘settling’ the police, is really annoying. They don’t come to us directly, they deal with our boss but then we are the ones suffering the whole thing. The money these people make from us every week is just too much,” she said.
At the other
Managers of two of the hotels who our correspondent came across in the course of the findings refused to speak on the issue as a result of fear. They also refused to disclose which station the policemen they pay the weekly ‘royalty’ to come from even though a bar man in one of the hotels pointed that the officers came from all nearby police stations. Empire is in between Mushin and Jibowu in Yaba.
But apart from the dilemma now faced by commercial sex workers in this Lagos neighbourhood, the spate of crime in the area in recent times has reduced life to a living nightmare for many of its residents, especially parents with young boys and girls. Some, for fear of the morals of their children, put them in boarding schools and also give them out to live with relatives and friends in other parts of the state and country.Mrs. Fatima Ahmed, a petty trader, told Saturday PUNCH.
“I don’t have money to move out of this area yet but I cannot afford to have my children
She has lived in Empire for 10 years, witnessing a lot of crimes and moral decadence in the period.
“If you see what some of the youths in the area do with drugs, alcohol and dangerous weapons, then you won’t want your children to grow up in such environment if you are a good parent. My children are in the boarding house and when they vacate they go to my cousin’s place at Ifako to stay. They only come here to visit me and their father once in a while,” she said.
A commercial motorcyclist, Stephen Okoli, who lives with his three daughters and wife on Oguntokun Street, told Saturday PUNCH that his girls only return to the area at weekends from his sister’s place in Ojota where they live and go to school at weekdays. He revealed that this was the best way he could protect them from being infected with the immoralities in Empire at the moment.
“My wife and I decided to let them live with my sister at Ojota just to protect them,” Okoli said. “They are little girls still growing up and we don’t want them to be corrupted by what people are doing here. Our fear is that there is no way they would grow up here and won’t be influenced
Spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, Joe Offor, debunked allegations of extortion and summary raids in Empire as claimed by many of the commercial sex workers. Offor told Saturday PUNCH that the allegation was a ploy to blackmail officers who were carrying out their lawful duties in the area.
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“Allegations like this, as funny as they sound, are not new to the police. The brothels are seen in most cases as criminal hideouts and if there is any suspicion of harbouring any criminal in such places; the police have a right to raid such places regardless of whether prostitutes operate there or not. In the process of such raids, the prostitutes themselves could be arrested if they have been found to be working with the wanted criminals.
“Most times when they make this type of allegation, it’s to blackmail the police to stop doing their good work. There is no issue of extortion; it is just a case of blackmail especially since the Command embarked on a massive onslaught on criminals in Lagos. Criminal hideouts and black spots are being raided daily to sanitise the state. Our officers are committed to protecting the safety of lives and property and shall continue to give their best in the discharge of their duties,” he said.
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