'Libyan officials tortured us, raped our ladies'- Deportees (Photos)

The Nigerians who had cried out to their government to save them from the hell they were living in were deported back to the country on Tuesday, February 14, 2017, and they have been narrating their woes.

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News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the deportees, some of whom broke down in tears while others gave praises to God on arrival, revealed how their search for a better life turned into a nightmare for them.

The returnees who numbered about 161, voluntarily returned to the country assisted by the International Organisation for Migration after being detained for several months in Libya.

Some of them said they had traveled to the North African country with the hope of crossing into Europe through the Mediterranean Sea in search of jobs.

One of the returnees, Bridget Akeamo, who hails from Anambra State, said her parents decided to send her to Italy when all hopes of securing a job after graduation faded.

Akeamo who said she left Nigeria in August 2016, came back home with a four-months-old pregnancy, a result of rape.

She said she was arrested by immigration officials while trying to cross to Italy from Libya.

“Ever since my arrest, I have been moved from one prison to another until I was taken to a detention camp in Tripoli.

We were subjected to inhuman treatment while in prison, from the food we ate to the water we drank.

Most of the young ladies in detention camp were repeatedly raped by Libyan officials; and if you refused their advances, it would be hell for you.

Thank God I am back in Nigeria. I know all hope is not lost, but it is painful that I will begin from scratch again with my unborn child.”

34-year-old Stanley Iduh, an indigene of Delta State, said he was tricked by an agent who promised to facilitate his journey to Spain through Libya.

Iduh said that when his hopes of crossing into Spain were dashed in Libya, he decided to stay back and work there.

“I worked in a tile producing company and their salary was good, but unfortunately, I could save my money in the bank. I lived with other Nigerians. I dug a hole in the ground and hid my money in it.

Unfortunately, one day, some Libyans came, kidnapped us and inflicted punishment on us. They asked us to call our relations back in Nigeria and tell them to send N300,000 as our ransom.

The $200,000 that I saved disappeared; they moved us to another place until we got to a detention camp.

Nigerians should be discouraged from traveling to Libya because they don’t see us as human beings. Our ladies were dehumanized by Libyan officials. It is very painful.”

Iduh added that he had to sell the house left for him by his late father before traveling to Libya, urging the federal and state governments as well as wealthy Nigerians to create jobs for the youths.

“It was because I was jobless for three years that I was cajoled to travel abroad to look for greener pasture. I am back in the country after eight months, devastated and humiliated.

I have gone to look for greener pasture, but here I am today; I have brought nothing green back home,” he said, with tears running down his cheeks.

For Paul and Marvellous Isikhuemhen who are twin brothers, their journey to Libya to look for greener pastures in March and May 2016, respectively, ended in a nightmare.

Marvellous said he regretted traveling out of the country because of the bitter encounter he and his brother had in Libya.

The brothers urged the Nigerian government to stop young ladies from traveling to Libya, saying they were molested by Libyan immigration officials.

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They said most Nigerian ladies bribe Nigerian immigration officers to secure travel documents to travel to Libya, adding that most of the children brought back home by these ladies have no fathers.

“I can boldly tell you that the children you are seeing in their hands and those pregnant ladies are products of Libyan immigration officers,” Marvellous concluded.