By Deborah Nnamdi
A Ghanaian court has sentenced a 29-year-old Nigerian, Chukwudi Nwachukwu, to 10 years’ imprisonment for trafficking his younger sister and nine other Nigerian girls to Ghana for prostitution.
The Achimota Circuit Court, presided over by Judge Akosua Anokyewaa Adjepong, found Nwachukwu guilty on two counts of human trafficking. The judge ruled that although he was a first-time offender, the increasing rate of human trafficking demanded a strong deterrent sentence.
According to the prosecution, the victims—aged between 15 and 18 years—were deceived with promises of employment in a restaurant in Ghana but were instead forced into sex work upon arrival. One of the victims was Nwachukwu’s biological sister.
Prosecutor, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Isaac Babayi, told the court that the case began after Chief Calistus Eloziepuwa, a member of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) in Ghana, alerted authorities and helped rescue the victims.
ASP Babayi explained that on June 7, 2024, the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) at the Ghana CID Headquarters received a report from the Nmai Dzorn Police Station indicating that Nwachukwu had been apprehended and the girls freed. Investigations revealed that Nwachukwu financed their transportation from Nigeria and collaborated with unidentified accomplices who recruited the victims from various villages.
Upon arrival in Ghana, Nwachukwu reportedly kept the girls at his residence in Liberia Camp, near Kasoa, where he forced them to take oaths before a shrine after cutting their pubic hair. He allegedly warned them that disobedience or escape attempts would result in incurable skin diseases.
He later gave them waist beads from the shrine and moved them to Odorkor, a suburb of Accra, where they were forced into prostitution and required to pay him GH₵300 daily from their earnings. Police investigators also discovered that he kept detailed records of their daily income in an exercise book.
In her ruling, Judge Adjepong sentenced Nwachukwu to 10 years’ imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, and ordered him to pay GH₵15,000 compensation to each of the victims.
The court’s verdict marks a significant victory in the fight against human trafficking between Nigeria and Ghana.
