Officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS) have constantly subjected an innocent woman to harassment for bearing the same name as a wanted person.
Gatekeepers News reports that 56-year-old Bolanle Adeoye was stopped on February 4, 2022 and prevented from travelling, over allegations that she trafficked children years back.
This is however not the first time Adeoye will be subjected to such harassment at the airport for bearing the same name as a notorious child trafficker who had been declared wanted since 2010.
Mistaken Identity
Adeoye’s ordeal started in 2018 when she first visited her daughter in Dubai and was returning to Nigeria weeks later. On her return, she was held and grilled by DSS officials at the airport and was thereafter moved to the NAPTIP office in Lagos for further interrogation and traumatising treatment.
In a chat with Gatekeepers News, Adeoye said she was accused of escaping from police custody and trafficking two young ladies to Lebanon in 2010.
According to her, she bears the same name as the notorious child trafficker who had been declared wanted.
Her travel documents were seized and NAPTIP and DSS officials turned deaf ear to the explanations she gave to prove her innocence.
“In 2018, I went to visit my children in Dubai and while returning, DSS officials stopped me and took me to their office. The DSS officials I was handed over to kept asking me how I escaped from police custody in 2010 and I explained to them that I know nothing about the incident. I sold food at the time at Ring Road in Ibadan and told the officials to enquire about me in the area and all Police stations as i was never involved in any case, but they turned deaf ear to my explanations.
“I asked what offence the wanted person had committed but they refused to tell me and insisted that I escaped from police custody and said I have the same name as the person (Bolanle Adeoye) in question and our age is almost same,” she told Gatekeepers News.
According to her, the officials “confirmed that even though I shared the same name with the person they were looking for, our cities of residence were different. I asked them to check my signature and thumbprint to confirm that I was not the one they were looking for but they declined.”
“I was thereafter transferred to DSS office in Ikoyi, Lagos, where I was asked what I went to do at Lebanon, how I got to America, Ghana and London. I told them I had never been to those places but they didn’t listen to me.
“I wore the same cloth I was wearing when I was arrested at the airport in 2018 for all the 11 days i was detained.
Falsified Statement
Adeoye said the DSS took her to the NAPTIP office on the fourth day, she discovered that her statement had been falsified to match the wanted human trafficker.
“When we got to NAPTIP, it was discovered that DSS officials had changed the statement I gave. They presented another indicating that I admitted to being a human trafficker, that I indeed took two girls to Lebanon,” she said.
“It was at that time an official explained to me that I was being accused of human trafficking. I was accused of trafficking two young ladies to Lebanon, an offence I knew nothing about.
“I told them that the DSS falsified my statement and urged them to also investigate the issue thoroughly. I was told to look for a guarantor to secure my release but it was not possible to get one until after 7 days.”
How They Prevented Her Family From Seeing Her
Gatekeepers News reports that while Adeoye was in DSS custody, she was totally cut off from her children and other family members. The woman who is managing high blood pressure, was also denied access to her medications throughout her detention.
“While being held at the DSS facility, I was not allowed to use my high blood pressure drugs despite how bad my health was at the time. I appealed to them to allow me to speak with my children; they told me that I would be informed whenever any of them visited but they never did.
“Meanwhile, my children came to that place every day but they prevented them from seeing me, making me think that my family had abandoned me.
“One of the DSS commanders even told me to prepare to go to jail, that prison was meant for humans and that I should not be afraid, that my children would wait for me while I served my jail term. He said these words to me despite not committing any crime.”
Subjected to Trauma
“After being released, I was asked to come from Ibadan to Lagos and I was consistent with all the days I was asked to come, even when I was sick. On a particular day, the NAPTIP officials brought out the case files of the human trafficking victim and called one of the ladies I was accused of trafficking.
“She told NAPTIP officials that I was not the one that was taking them out of Nigeria when they were arrested, that the person was a man and not a woman. She told them that she had never met or seen me before.”
According to her, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was involved in the case to find out if she has any suspicious amount of money in her custody, and the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) in charge of her case, Victoria Apaniko also visited her house to take a record of all belongings.
“After one year and a half, I was contacted to come for my passport, that I was not the one they were looking for. They told me that I won’t be stopped again at the airport whenever I wanted to travel.
“I visited my children in Dubai after the saga and spent three months with them,” she added.
However, when she was stopped again by the DSS for the same reason they held her three years ago and prevented from boarding a United Arab Emirates Dubai-bound flight at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, on February 4, 2022, while going to visit her daughter, who recently had a baby.
Adeoye realised that her name is yet to be removed from the agency’s watch list despite investigation revealing that she was not the one wanted for child trafficking by NAPTIP.
“Recently, my daughter gave birth in Dubai and I was going to visit them on February 4 when the DSS stopped me at the airport again. I was taken to NAPTIP where they confirmed again that I was not the one they were looking for because their investigation revealed that I indeed had no passport as at 2010.
“Despite that confirmation from NAPTIP officials, the agency is yet to remove my name from their watch list. They pleaded with me not to be angry, that the person who handled my case previously did not close it well. They blamed the delay in concluding my case to the unavailability of their director-general at the time to attend to my file.
“I was asked to go, that I would be contacted in a few days to come for my passport. But since February 4, I have been waiting for their call.
“My luggage containing perishable items is still at the DSS office. The COVID-19 test I did for N45,000, which lasts for 48, hours expired in the process. I have been spending a lot of money on hotel accommodation in Lagos thinking the matter would be resolved within days but that has not been the case.
“I am being punished for committing no offence, for simply bearing the name of a person they are looking for. I don’t know how long more my health can take this pressure and trauma they have put me through before something bad happens,” she said.
Adeoye’s legal team has written to NAPTIP, demanding that her name be removed from the agency’s watchlist.
