When
it comes to prostitution in Lagos, different persons tend to see the ancient
trade from different perspectives.
While the morally upright would hiss and
curse at the sight of a call girl, a high profile client with large appetite
for carnal matters would not miss the blissful promise the nocturnal calling
holds for him.
Similarly,
while many would not hesitate to charge at such a lady with names like Ashawo,
Karuwa or Akwuna-kwuna, depending on the individual’s cultural roots,
some would rather express preference for a more refined phrase like ‘Lady
of the Red Light District, commercial sex worker, whore, etc.
However,
regardless of the name, the trade remains the same - sex for money.
What
started with a courteous line of sympathy eventually morphed into a
three-hour-long chat between our correspondent and the prostitute - Kemi
(real names withheld).
The
conversation started when she declared that she was unhappy. Asked what the
matter was, Kemi said she had just lost a substantial amount of money. Read excerpts below:
Why are you unhappy?
I have
just lost some money.
I’m so sorry about that. Hope it wasn't
much?
It's
N26, 000. I wanted to keep it in the house but decided to take it out because
of the criminals in the house.
Again, very sorry about the loss; you
must be feeling terrible right now.
Yeah!
Do you even know what I do for a living?
I have no idea. Now, tell me what you do
for a living?
I'm
a street girl!
Street girl? Oh my God...
Yes!
That's what I do.
But what exactly do you mean by ‘street
girl’? Is it anything different from what’s on my mind?
I’m
a club girl; I mean a prostitute!
I don't believe you.
I’m
not joking. I sell sex and all those kinds of things.
I still don’t believe you.
Why
not?
You speak very good English; you’re
pretty and you just don’t strike me as that kind of a girl.
(Laughing
out loud) Oh! Really?
Yes!
What
happened to me is like the words you attached to your profile picture (Let us
teach our daughters that they must always report to daddy and mummy if uncles
or smiling neighbours touch certain parts of their bodies). Something went
wrong with me; so, I became who I am today. I did not choose this path as a
child.
You mean something happened when you
were much younger?
When
I was young, things were alright. Things went wrong as I was growing up.
Tell me about the first time.
The
first time what?
The first time things began to go wrong
in your life.
Oh!
Okay. It all began with my parents. They separated, and that separation
affected me and eventually ruined my life.
Oh my God! Did you lose them? I mean did
they die?
No,
they didn’t.
Are you saying they stopped living
together?
Yes!
I used to be very brilliant in school.
Very sorry about that; so what exactly
followed?
I
was the quiz and debate captain in my school.
You mean primary school?
I
mean both primary and secondary schools. Sometimes, I really can’t believe I
turned out this way. I look at myself and ask: ‘Is this me?’
I really admire your courage. A part of
me is proud of you.
You’re
a funny guy. Well, my father left. He left my mum for another woman, and then
the problem started.
Did you complete secondary school?
Well,
I finished but my result wasn’t good because I remember that I couldn’t
concentrate. I was pregnant at that time.
Oh my God! Your dad shouldn't have... for
your sake!
I
was pregnant for someone who promised to help with my education, but he
complicated my life with the pregnancy.
You got pregnant in school?
Yes!
The pregnancy brought more troubles till date.
Did you have the baby?
Yes,
I did, and that’s one of the problems I’m still battling with.
Wow! How old are you now?
I’m
23 years old. I turned 23 on January 11 this year. My mum was always sick and
nobody knew she had cancer. She kept spending huge sums of money on her failing
health. At the end of the day, she could no longer afford to pay my school
fees.
That's really sad. Hope she's Ok now?
No;
I lost her. Now I'm alone.
Goodness! When did this happen?
I
lost her April 23 last year, at the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
Is that why you hit the streets?
Yes,
I didn’t know where to go from there.
I really feel your pain. What happened
afterwards?
At
a point, my older school friend introduced me to a guy. I was told the guy
would be my friend and would assist me financially since my mum was still very
ill. When I met him, I was naive, and told him that my mum said I should not
talk to strangers.
What did he say about that?
My
older school friend assured me there wouldn't be any problem. Afterwards, he
then took me to his friend. We started the friendship, and then he started
touching some parts of my body which he wasn’t supposed to touch...
Was he the one that had sexual
intercourse with you?
Yes,
even when he had sex with me, I didn't know it was sex because he told me he
wanted to check something in my body. All I knew was that he did something to
me, and I experienced a lot of pain. My mum was eventually discharged from the
hospital, and immediately she got home, I told her.
How old were you at that time?
I
was around 15 or 16 years old. I completed secondary school in the 2005/2006
session.
What did your mum do when you told her?
She
was shocked when I told her. She went to the boy’s house and got him arrested.
Afterwards, the police asked me how many times he did ‘it’ to me. I told them
he used to touch my chest whenever I went to his place because I didn’t have
fully developed breasts as at then.
Okay, how many times did this guy have
sex with you before your mum got him arrested?
Just
once. One day, he excused his friends, and started struggling with me and told
me he wanted to check something on my body. He pulled off my skirt, removed his
trousers and forced something like a knife into my body, and blood started to
come out of my body. I narrated to the police the same way I had earlier
narrated it to my mum. They were all adults, and they all understood that it
was not a knife that I actually saw - with my innocent eyes - but his sex
organ. They arrested him and when they asked him if he really did the things I
said, he confessed. When I was eventually taken for medical check up, I was
already pregnant.
Wow! Just like that? You must have been
sad.
I
was so sad. You have no idea how miserable I became. I was confronted with two
grave options – an abortion, which could take my life because they said my body
was very narrow. They even said that the hole in my body was too narrow for a
D&C. The other option was to have the baby and live. I remember the doctor
telling me that, because I didn’t have a hole in my private part, they had to
tear my body.
You were operated? But at 17, your body
should have been mature enough to have a baby. Was it because of your stature?
No.
I had sex once, yet it didn’t look like I had had sex before. No! I wasn't
operated. My private part was torn. When my stomach started getting bigger, my
mum told me that she would give me something to vomit the baby. She didn’t tell
me that was the process of getting pregnant, having a baby and become a mother.
But she should have told you; that’s
terrible. The pain must have been unbearable.
Yes,
sure it was. Thanks for the listening ear.
You're welcome. Where do you reside at
the moment?
Lekki.
Do you live alone?
No;
I don’t. I live with friends. They are friends that engage in the same business
as me.
Okay.
It’s
N7,000 per week.
Does that sustain you?
I
mean N7, 000 per week as rent for the house I live in. The lady who owns the
house is in her early 30s. So, everyone else pays N7, 000 to her on a weekly
basis. Do you understand?
Yes, I do. You’re talking about rent,
not income.
Yes!
So. where do you hang out when you’re on
duty?
Clubs!
Which club in particular?
Anyone,
but ‘Troy’ is my favourite.
Why Troy? Is there something special
about Troy?
I
like Troy, especially because the men that come there like slim girls.
Interesting! Are you telling me that
there are other places where they prefer different specs of girls?
Yes.
At a place like ‘Aura,’ you must be on the big side in terms of physique.
Okay, that makes a lot of sense to me
now.
Yeah.
The girls who do well at ‘Aura’ are tall and huge because that’s what the crowd
likes. Sometimes, girls make as much as $400 or $500, but that’s when you have
a big ‘backup.’ Girls get rich from this business but if you don’t have a ‘back
up,’ it’s safer to go out once in a while. Personally, I don’t have any ‘back
up,’ which is why I don’t go out all the time.
What exactly do you mean by ‘backup’?
I
mean juju/voodoo/jazz.
Do those things really work?
Yes!
Very well!
How do those things work?
It
makes men daft, and whatever you request from them, they give you.
Goodness, gracious!
The
girls that use it, put it inside their private part. Others use them as powder,
body cream and all of that.
So if she meets a guy and she says,
"give me ‘x’ amount of money," the guy would just give her?
Yes!
That’s how it works.
Would it still work if the guy does not
have sex with her?
Yes,
there must be sex before it works. The girls usually ask for an amount of money
much higher than what she would have charged for sex. For instance, you ask for
$400 and then he would explain to the girl that he doesn’t have that much; he
begs her to accept the N100, 000 that he has.
...and he gives it to her?
Yes!
He just hands it to her.
Just like that?
Yes
o!
Ye! That is serious.
That’s
the way the girls use it, and it works for them. Believe me, it does.
Is it expensive to acquire?
It’s
between N20, 000 and N30, 000.
What does the one in the private part
look like?
It’s
an incision on the girl’s private part and once the guy has sexual intercourse
with her, the ‘back up’ begins to work. You just tell the guy what you want and
if he has it, he gives it to you straight away.
Haven't you ever been tempted to use it?
I
know it’s a very bad thing to do; so the thought of it really puts me off.
However, my refusal to do it is affecting me. If I had it on, I would go
anywhere I want without fearing anything.
Maybe you’re right.
The
fact is that I don’t want to do it.
I respect your choice – it shows you
really have a conscience.
The
way I see it is like making people do what they wouldn’t have done if they were
with their clear eyes - all because I want to have money and live a flamboyant
life? It’s not worth it. It’s just not right and it’s not proper. No matter how
I look at it, it just looks absurd.
You deserve a good life. Who introduced
you to this street life?
Well,
some girls that lived close to my former residence. They used to tell me a lot
about different places. One of them took me to Ikeja. That was how it all
began.
Back to the voodoo thing, tell me more
about it.
The
voodoo works on white men. If you have a ‘backup’ and go out with a white guy,
between two and three months, he would have paid a lot of money into your
account – enough money for you to buy a car and start a good business. It’s
just as you have a remote control in your hands.
‘Ye!’ Oh my God! That’s scary…
It
sure is.
When you said some girls that lived in
your area introduced you to street life, do you mean Lekki or was it another
place?
I
mean Lekki and Ikeja.
Do you remember the year?
You
mean the street life?
Yeah!
Around
December. 2011, but I didn’t take it as seriously as I take it now. I only
serviced guys on phone call basis. By implication, no phone calls, no outing. I
stopped that because I wasn’t pleased with myself. All the money I was making
was being spent on my mum’s health. At that time, I lived in Ikeja and I was
responsible for my upkeep, my baby as well as my mum’s bills.
Can I ask you a serious question?
Yes…
Go ahead.
Like how many guys do you have sex with
per week?
Oh!
It depends.
Give me a minimum and a maximum number.
You
mean the number of guys I have sex with, right?
Yes.
Well,
like I said, it all depends on a number of factors.
Can you handle as many as 10 a week?
In
a day, I can handle three guys if the pay is right. If you multiply three by
seven, that’s 21 one.
Wow! That’s a lot and like how much do
you charge per client?
It
depends on the duration, distance and stress involved. If it’s far, for
instance, there will be transportation stress.
If the guy says he doesn’t have much
money on him; like how much can you manage. If, on the other hand, the guy is
loaded, how much would you charge him for sex?
Now
that I'm in Lekki, it’s quite different from the Mainland. An hour of sex is
N10, 000 here. The least I can collect is N7, 000.
Let's assume you were on the Mainland.
The
fee on the Mainland is so poor that an hour is N3, 000. Even at N3, 000 there
are guys that will still want to haggle down the price to something less. They
are fond of making very poor offers. I just had to relocate. On the mainland,
it is usually N3, 000 per hour. All-night service starts from N5, 000 upwards.
Do the guys who go daft ever return to
their normal senses?
Yes,
of course.
When does that happen?
They
return to their normal senses after they’ve paid the girl heavily.
Unfortunately, if he still likes seeing the girl, he might not be completely
free yet.
What happens in cases like that?
The
girl just calls him and says: “Pay N500,000 into my account today,” and he does
it. The following week, the girl could say: “Buy me a car and take me shopping,”
and he does it. He would just keep doing those things.
So, the spell just breaks automatically
after a huge payment to the girl?
He
remains daft and would continue to concede to her huge monetary requests.
However, those things expire with time.
Really?
Yes.
How long does the voodoo work before it
expires?
Sometimes,
the duration is spelt out to the girl at the point of acquiring the charm but
at other times, she is simply told to avoid certain things if she wants the
charm to remain potent. However, one day, the girl would go to the guy’s house
as usual and tell him to take her out for shopping or ask for the money to do
the shopping herself. The guy would ask her how much, and she would say something
like N200,000. The guy would just flare up and ask her if she’s insane. At that
point, the girl must realise that the ‘backup’ (voodoo) has expired.
How long does the voodoo work?
It
depends on where you got your own charm. Some of those things have their dos
and don’ts.
Like what are some of the dos and don'ts?
Like,
you may be told not to eat ‘draw soup’ and also avoid eating stuff like that.
Some might tell the girl that she must never eat snails again. They have
different rules and taboos.
Oh! I understand now.
But
accidents happen. For instance, the girl might go to a restaurant, and if she
gets served vegetable with the same spoon that had been used to dish Okro,
Ogbono or Ewedu, the voodoo might be neutralised. If she eats that and
goes back to her numerous clients, things are bound to go wrong.
So, do you still enjoy sex?
Well,
I have never enjoyed sex since the first time I had it. I was not happy about
the way I lost my virginity.
So, what do you think about when a guy
is having sex with you?
You
mean the neutral guys who pay me for sex?
Yes!
I'm
always there with the guy physically but my mind and spirit are far away.
Perhaps, that’s why I don’t enjoy sex. Even, while having sex, I do still have
a lot of things on my mind - my family, my child, my business and other things.
Most of the time, I think of my child and how I’m going to raise him. These
thoughts come to me immediately the sex act starts.
How do you handle the police? Because I
know they give girls on the street plenty trouble.
Yes,
the police are a problem especially in Ikeja area. We don’t have such problems
on the Island.
Would you ever consider getting married?
Maybe!
Why maybe?
It
depends on God.
Okay. Back to the policemen on the
mainland - when they arrest girls on the streets, what do they do with them? Do
they really take these girls to their station?
They
take some to the police station, but if they like the girl’s stature and she
does not have money, they drive her to a corner and have sex with her, or
alternatively, they drive to the police station and ‘have’ her in one of the
abandoned vehicles at the station.
Goodness! You mean policemen do such
things?
Sure!
It’s the way they operate, but if the girls they arrest are a lot, they can’t
have sex with all of them, so some will definitely land in the police cells.
Okay, one last question: How do you
handle clients who don’t like wearing condom?
I
try all I can to convince them but if they insist, I just walk out on them.
NEWSWATCH
NEWSWATCH
Written by Agent Coded
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