The Federal Capital Territory Ministerial Task Force on Sunday arrested a retired director in one of the federal ministries for allegedly patronising a commercial sex worker on a street in Abuja.
The task force was constituted by the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Muhammed, to clear Abuja’s streets of commercial sex workers, after the expiration of the ultimatum given to them to quit the city or face prosecution.
Also arrested along with the director were 60 commercial sex workers, who were picked up at different spots in the city during a major raid that lasted about five hours, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
During the exercise, the team raided areas such as Lagos Street in Garki 11, Rita Lori, Gimbia Street, Ibiza and Wuse Zone 4, especially opposite Sheraton Hotel, as well as Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse 2, among others.
The retired director was arrested on Gimbia Street, Garki 11, where he was allegedly sighted negotiating with a call girl for about five minutes..
NAN reports that as he was negotiating with the commercial sex worker, he had no idea that members of the task force were standing in front of his Toyota RAV4 Jeep, which had tinted glass.
Upon his arrest, the unnamed man claimed that the lady was his daughter. At Wuse Police Station, he changed the story, claiming that she was his fiancee.
He was, however, furious at the police station and accused the FCT Minister of going beyond his limits.
“When I was a director, I knew Bala (FCT minister) then. He was a deputy director. How come now he wants to decide how we live our social life in the FCT?
“Bala should concentrate on the Abuja Master Plan and forget about the sexual lives of residents,” he said.
However, there was a twist to his fate when he attempted to call his wife on the telephone to contact his lawyer.
Commercial sex workers, who were listening to his conversation on the phone, interjected, shouting, “Madam, no mind your husband, na asewo he come look for wey dem arrest am.”
His wife immediately terminated the call, NAN reports.
One of the call girls, who gave her name as Kemi, an indigene of Kogi, told journalists that she had contacted a senator, whom she described as her “regular customer.” She said he had expressed readiness to secure her freedom.
But immediately she told the senator to hurry up because journalists were interviewing her, he switched off his phone.
NAN reports that relatives of the detained prostitutes, who flooded Wuse Police Station, instantly withdrew to the main entrance of the Wuse General Hospital on sighting journalists covering the spectacle.
Most pathetic among the arrested call girls were three pregnant ladies. They were said to be carrying pregnancies between two and four months old.
They lamented that their boyfriends denied the pregnancies leaving them with no option than to fend for themselves and their unborn babies.
The ladies were dragged before the Abuja Environmental Mobile Court but the presiding judge granted them bail as first-time offenders.
He warned warning that he might not be so lenient the second time they were caught and brought before the court.
The 60 ladies, however, expressed their willingness to be rehabilitated and trained by the FCT minister. They also filled rehabilitation forms, while promising to quit the trade.
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