For women working in Benin City’s streets, Monday night, August 4th, started like many others. But by Tuesday morning, their lives had been turned upside down—not just by arrest, but by what came after.
The Edo State Taskforce on Migration had swept through the Government Reservation Area in their ongoing effort to tackle sex work and drug activities.
Over 30 women found themselves in custody, a familiar scenario in a city where such raids have become routine. What happened next, however, was anything but routine.
After their release, several women say they were approached with an offer that felt more like a threat: pay between ₦15,000 and ₦50,000, or risk having videos of their arrest shared across social media platforms.
“I thought I was protecting myself,” said one woman, her voice shaking as she recounted the experience.
“They said if I paid, the videos would never see the light of day. But then my sister called me—she’d seen me on TikTok.”
For these women, many of whom work in sex trade out of economic desperation, the public exposure represented something far worse than arrest.
It meant their families knowing, their communities judging, and their faces becoming recognizable to anyone with a smartphone.
“Since last Thursday, I haven’t been able to sleep,” another victim shared. “I’m afraid to go outside. I paid what they asked for, thinking I would be safe. Now I feel ruined.”
The women point to Uyinmwen Uyigue as the person who collected their payments, showing POS transaction receipts as proof.
They say he told them the money was for the Edo State Migration Agency—payment to keep their identities private.
But Uyigue tells a different story. He admits receiving money from four women but insists it wasn’t extortion.
According to him, the payments were fines agreed upon by local hospitality business owners trying to police their own establishments.
“We have an agreement in the Benin GRA Hospitality Forum,” Uyigue explained. “Any lodge owner whose girls are caught soliciting outside pays a ₦50,000 fine.
This was about businesses taking responsibility, not about bribes.”
Lucky Agazuma, Director General of the Edo State Migration Agency, strongly denies any involvement in extortion.
“Our agency is fully funded and we don’t need to extort anyone,” he stated. “Our mission is rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration—not punishment.”
Agazuma emphasized that the agency has successfully prosecuted trafficking cases, including those involving minors and ritual oaths, with several offenders now serving prison sentences.
But for the women whose faces are now circulating on social media, the bureaucratic explanations feel inadequate.
They’re dealing with phone calls from horrified family members, stares from neighbors, and the psychological weight of unwanted public exposure.
“My mother saw the video,” one woman said quietly. “She called me crying, asking how I could bring such shame on our family. How do I explain that I was trying to survive?”
Human rights advocates are calling for an independent investigation, particularly focusing on the unauthorized sharing of arrest videos.
