169 indigenes of Edo state recently deported from Libya have arrived Benin City the state capital.
The deportees were received and brought back to the state on arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos by the State Task Force against Human trafficking.
The expatriates comprise one male and 168 females, 15 of which are pregnant while nine of them are children.
One of them, Faith Ogheneovu said she narrowly escaped death in the hands of gunmen in Libya.
“I just thank God that I am alive to tell these stories, in Libya, there is no government or rule of law, they are governed by their guns. For five good times I have escaped being killed while in Libya,” she said.
Also narrating her ordeal, Ogheneovu’s colleague said her journey to the North-African country began after she was purportedly deceived by her friends into selling her sewing machine.
“I was being pressured every day to go to Italy because I will make it there so at a time I succumbed, sold my sewing machine, gathered some more money and that was how I found myself on that mess,” said the 17-year old Vera Okunbor.
The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Yinka Omorogbe who is also the Chairman of the Task Force said the government has outlined programmes to assist the returnees and also discourage the trend of illegal migration from the state.
