Deaf and dumb girl trafficked to Côte d’Ivoire is missing
By Emma Una
A deaf and dumb girl trafficked from Cross River State to Côte d’Ivoire in 2025 has not been seen or heard from for the past year.
The girl known as Cynthia is among three otter girls taken from the village of Ebo in Yala Local Government Area in northern Cross River and taken to Côte d’Ivoire and has since not been heard from
“The other two girls have been located and brought back, but Cynthia has not been located or heard from after she took the bold step of reporting to security agents in that country about her plight and to seek help”. Austin Oko, a blogger, told Vanguard.
According to Cecilia and Gift, two of the girls trafficked along with Cynthia, her speech is faint and difficult to comprehend.
“She managed to communicate to us that Odey Ikogor, the trafficker, forcefully snatched her along a lonely pathway, while she was returning home from an errand for her mother in Ebo, her village and taken to Obubra, where she was handed over to Madam, the lady who took us to Côte d’Ivoire ”, Gift narrated.
gift revealed that Cynthia was on her monthly cycle on the day she was abducted by the trafficking agent
“She remained in that condition until we got to Ebonyi State, and out of compassion, I voluntarily gave her two of my underwear, a bra and some clothes to change into before we were moved to Lagos and from there to Côte d’Ivoire ”.
She said when they got to Côte d’Ivoire , they met other girls from their area in that country. After some period, “three of us were taken to Nakara, an interior village and made to sell our bodies to men, and when the pain became too much for her, she went to the security men and reported. That was the last time we saw or heard from her”
She said not only they but many other girls have been snatched or deceived by agents and handed over to traffickers who took them to Côte d’Ivoire .
“Not only us but many others whose lives, dreams, and future have been cruelly tampered with by Odey, selling them to traffickers for prostitution in Côte d’Ivoire.”
Cynthia s aged mother, Ochuole, said she has been searching for the girl since last year, not knowing she was snatched on the way and sold to traffickers.
“She was helping me on the farm and other home chores, but since last year, when I sent her on an errand, she has not come back. If not for the information from Cecilia and Gift, I wouldn’t have known where she was, and at my age, how can I go to that far country to look for her?”
The agent trafficker, Odey Ikogor, according to the youth leader of the place, Denis Ogbor, has escaped from the village after his atrocities were discovered.
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