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In a rescue operation that feels straight out of a movie, two girls from Benue State – just 15 and 17 years old – are finally free after being lured to Ibadan, forced into prostitution, and held captive by a trafficker who demanded ₦300,000 ransom from their terrified parents.
The nightmare began with the classic lie: “Come to Ibadan, I have good jobs for you.” The man behind the deception, identified only as Mr. Tersoo, picked the girls up from Benue with promises of decent work and a better life. The moment they arrived, the mask came off – their phones were seized, they were locked up, and pushed into commercial sex work.
When the teenagers gathered the courage to beg to go home, Tersoo didn’t just refuse. He moved them to another camp and fired off ransom demands to their families: pay ₦300,000 or forget ever seeing your daughters again.
That’s when everything changed.
A whistleblower who has made it his mission to hunt down traffickers preying on Benue children raised the alarm. Working hand-in-hand with the Tiv community in Ibadan and the Oyo State Police Command, they tracked Tersoo down and pounced. On Wednesday he was arrested, the girls were freed, and right now – as you read this – they’re on their way back to Benue, receiving counseling and support after their ordeal.
The whistleblower, speaking anonymously, praised the police and community members for moving “like lightning” and sent a chilling message to other traffickers: “We are watching. Benue children are not for sale.”
This rescue is a massive win, but it’s also a stark reminder that human trafficking is alive and brutal, even in 2025. Young girls are still being sweet-talked onto buses with fake job offers, only to disappear into horror on the other side.
To every parent, every youth corps member, every big brother and sister reading this: drill it into the young ones – if a job sounds too easy and someone is rushing you out of your state without your people meeting them first, it’s probably a trap.
Today, two families are getting their daughters back. Two girls get to sleep in their own beds again instead of a trafficker’s cage.
That’s worth celebrating – and worth fighting to make sure it happens for every other child still out there in the dark. Safe journey home, queens. Benue is waiting with open arms.
