
If you ever thought the internet is where the rottenness of moral decay
and celebration of immorality enjoy wanton displays, you need to hear
the story of the prostitute commune near Oba junction on the route to
Nnewi along the Onitsha-Owerri expressway.
In my own years of living in eastern Nigeria, I've notice in alarm how
the population of women outnumber that of men; many families who are
struggling to survive tend to have more females than males. It is no
surprise then that prostitution would thrive in such locations.
In my personal experience as a youth corper serving in Imo State, I
always had to escape falling into being entrapped by the women. To make
matters worse, women from these parts are usually beautiful and groomed
to look stunning in their local way. In the village where I served,
pretty damsels littered the community, giving me the eye in attempt to
send the 'I'm available' message anytime I was passing by. The things I
witnessed among female students in the school where I taught shocked
me.
That's another story for another day.
Back to Oba Junction, where trailers and trucks stop over on their long
distance trips to relax. Reporters with the Sunday Sun recounted their
experience on visiting this commune....
Oba junction near Onitsha, which leads to
Nnewi, called ‘Japan of Africa’, along the Onitsha-Owerri expressway in
Anambra State, is a mere stop-over relaxation spot for mainly drivers of
heavy-duty trucks and trailers on long distance travels. This explains
the concentration of makeshift shops and drinking joints competing for
space on both sides of the road.
But behind the façade of eating and drinking,
is a big séx market that would make the biblical people of Sodom and
Gomorrah green with envy. Here, séx sells like hot bean cake. The shops
serve dual purposes – the front serves as food and drink joints while
the back serves as a brothels. Some of the female shop owners display
only television sets for movies and offer their bodies for sale.
As Sunday Sun correspondent alighted from the
car this cool evening, a lady in a tight red top barely concealing her
breasts stood up from a plastic chair to welcome him and a colleague.
Posing as the storeowner, the visitors looked forward to being invited
to sit down and make their orders for the delicacies on display. But
surprisingly, they soon discovered that her body was the product on
sale.
Encounter with ‘merciless’ Mercy
In the conversation that ensued, the lady who
introduced herself as Mercy from neighbouring Delta State, told her
guests that she has ‘no mercy’ for men when it comes to séx because she
could guarantee maximum satisfaction that could make the client beg for
more. Shaking her breasts provocatively and rubbing her body on this
correspondent, she said she was ready for the night’s business once the
fee was settled.
Mercy assured that for N1000, her client was
guaranteed maximum touching and sucking of breasts and the main treat.
Pointing at the next shop, she said: “That is where I lodge. My room is
the one behind the shop and you will like it when we enter. I can also
take two of you at the same time.”
The guests soon disengaged themselves on the
pretext that they wanted to take some drinks to enable them get in the
mood. By this time, darkness had set in but the lights from passing
vehicles, lanterns and electricity from few shops with generating sets
provided visibility. Both sides of the road had been taken over by
próstitutes in several shades and forms. Some stood by the cabin of the
parked vehicles, for customers, others strolled along the road while
some others stayed in front of the shops, beckoning on male passers-by.
The spectacle became more interesting and
captivating at the main junction leading to Nnewi. Young girls between
13 and 18 years openly hawked their bodies on the main road. Some held
their clients tight, kissing and wriggling their waists behind the
parked vehicles. One of them who identified herself as Chiamaka from
Obollo Afor, picked offence when the reporter asked her how business was
going. She retorted: “I take exception to that statement. This is not
business, it is rather a game. You can call it catching fun or playing
games. It’s just like I play with you and you appreciate me for being a
good player or a good dancer, that’s all. Please, don’t call it
business.”
Chiamaka who would not be drawn into
explaining why at her age, she came all the way from Obollo Afor in
Enugu State for próstitution, said that on a very good day, she could
take up to 20 men and that she collects a minimum of N500 for ‘short
time’ service.
The Pregnant Próstitutes’ Corner
At a section of the séx market, Sunday Sun
noticed several heavily pregnant prostitutes who despite their
protruding bellies, are dressed in seductive wears competing for
clients.
One of them, who introduced herself as Chy
Chy, stated that some men prefer them to those not pregnant. The
pregnant séx hawker, who later collected N400 from the reporter, said
that she also belonged to the category of women who get high on séx
while pregnant. Asked about what would become of her baby after
delivery, she dropped another shocker when she said that the unborn baby
was already penciled for sale.

Inside the hotel
Further checks by Sunday Sun reporter later revealed that the main próstitution dish is served in a hotel close to the junction.
The hotel (name witheld), it is a gateway to
uncontrolled illicit séx and debauchery. With several semi-nude girls
and boys high on marijuana milling around the entrance of the hotel, the
first hint of what to expect, occurred inside a patent medicine store
located near the gate of the hotel. It took the chemist owner about 20
minutes to attend to the reporter’s request for N20 worth of Vitamin C
tablets because of a long queue of people buying séx-related items.
A young man jumped the queue and apparently
borrowing slang from the lyrics of popular artist, Flavor, he told the
chemist in Igbo: “Oga doc, biko nyem ifem na eri kam puo (Doctor, please
give me what I eat, and let me move out of here).”
As he spoke, he stepped aside to puff on a
wrap of Indian hemp in his hands. Later, the reporter asked the
storeowner what he meant, and he pointed at a particular brand of latex
cóndom that he described as the man’s favourite. Within minutes, the
ladies and men on queue bought several kinds of condóms, energizer
tablets and different types of aphrodisiacs and moved into the hotel
where a bevy of women and men in high spirit, danced to another music
track by Flavour, “Kpuchie, jayie”, booming from the giant speakers
mounted in the open arena.

It was later gathered that a round of séx with
a Liberian attracts N7000, Ghanaians go for N4000 while it costs N2500
to have it with a Nigerian.
Reacting to our reporter’s feigned protest of
the high cost of séx in the brothel, a young man who sat in a corner of
the hall drinking and smoking said: “Don’t mind them. They looked at
your fresh body and nice clothes and thought that you are loaded. That
is how they make money from new comers. We are old in the game and I
want to let you know that a round here is N500 but when you need
all-night service, it’s N2500. There is no classification here because
we are regular customers and we know them. Forget that they told you
that they are from abroad; all of them are Igbo and Delta.”
As if the girls noticed that the newcomers had
been inducted, Isabella who had introduced herself as a Liberian
suddenly started speaking Igbo language as they settled down to a table.
In this hotel, wearing of pants is
unofficially prohibited. All the prostitutes wore petty coats and tiny
skirts in a sagging form showing their butts without pants. Smoking of
marijuana both inside and outside the gate is also legalized. A woman
sells fast foods like noodles garnished with tomato sauce inside the
brothel while the resident barman doubles as the house DJ, supplying
eardrum-threatening music. Two armed men on army camouflage who smoked
and drank endlessly provide security to the hotel that has three
sections, A, B and C, all streaming with clients for short time
services.
Free wife for a guest
One of the hawkers suddenly tapped our
reporter’s colleague, rested her head on his shoulder and addressed him
as her husband. She was the only one wearing denim trouser that night,
and she explained that she didn’t want to expose her legs. Suddenly, she
stood up, unzipped her trousers unashamedly revealing her pubic hairs
and announced that she was naked inside. She said she was a student in
Port Harcourt but came to the hotel for brief business. The other lady
that sat with Sunday Sun reporter and his colleague said that she could
take N400 for ‘short time’ but in some cases, charge as high as N4000
for séx without condóm.
Imagine! How many have put themselves to unnecessary danger in this
sinful environment? Unfortunately, it all boils around a profession with
ancient origins. The thought all the things going on in this place is
freakishly scary. Some even go beyond getting paid for it.
I keep wondering...with things like this still flourishing, will there
ever be an end to taking it beyond the shores...that is, 'Italy runs'?
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