Lawrence Nwimo, Awka
A woman and her husband are cooling their heels in police custody after failed attempt to bribe a Commissioner in Anambra State.
Ikengaonline reports that the couple were arrested for attempting to bribe the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Ify Obinabo, with N2 million.
It was learned that the motive behind the move was to enable the woman continue running facilities where underaged girls are being forced into sex slavery.
The suspect, Mrs Ekpereamaka Okonkwor, who hails from Otolo Nnewi, operated as “Madam Padded” while in Nnewi, and later relocated to Oba, where she operated as “Ukwu Venza.”
While at Nnewi, the woman was said to be collecting money for the services the girls rendered to men at her brothel, and on one occasion, three girls she locked inside a room to prevent them from meeting men and collecting money behind her back were burnt to death.
Police preliminary investigation then, however, revealed that the suspect, Mrs Okonkwor, was just a bar owner, and that the three victims who lost their lives were just waiters in a restaurant and bar joint not prostitutes as alleged.
Accusing fingers were also pointed at the woman over a video that went viral recently, in which underaged girls were found at a brothel in Oba, with some visibly pregnant.
Narrating the incident, Mrs Obinabo explained that the suspect went into hiding after the Oba incident, but later resurfaced through her husband, who she asked to bribe the Commissioner with the N2 million.
According to her, they offered N300,000 as initial payment to “water the ground” for the deal.
She said that after informing relevant authorities about the bribe offer, she played along with the woman and her husband as instructed, and later met them outside the state where they were eventually arrested.
The Commissioner said that the matter would be charged to court upon completion of police investigation.
She also stated that the woman-suspect would be used to get the girls at the Oba brothel for necessary rehabilitation.
She warned people doing similar jobs in the state to desist forthwith, warning that the present administration in the state is determined to extinguish such evil activities.
