A 12-year-old house help, simply identified as Esther, has been rescued by Non-Governmental Organisation from the grip of her master, Mrs Makinde, who bought her for N15,000 and maltreated her in the Akowonjo area of Lagos State.
According to the NGO, Initiative for the Downtrodden, Makinde was alleged to have paid N15,000 to obtain the girl from a friend and allegedly started maltreating her by depriving her of food and other necessities.
The NGO President, Peacemaker Onoja, told SaharaReporters that his organisation received a distress call on Thursday from residents of the area in Egbeda to come to the rescue of the girl who was seen eating from the dustbin and bathing in the drainage.
Onoja said, “Neighbours alerted us that the girl comes out of the house to bath with gutter water and eats from the dustbin. When we got there, we saw the woman, Mrs Makinde, who identified herself. The woman told us she got the girl from a friend of hers, Iya Tutu.
“Instead of making efforts to connect the woman with us, she was busy begging and trying to see how the matter will die down. She told us she paid N15,000 to get the girl, and that she doesn’t know the girl’s origin. She said they brought the girl from somewhere in Ogun State and she had never met the parents of the girl. She doesn’t even know the surname of the girl.”
The human right activist added that they had immediately taken Esther, who had scars on her body, to the hospital, and she is currently receiving treatment.
“When we asked her for her surname, she couldn’t tell. The scars on the girl’s body are the ones the woman inflicted on her with nails, sticks and other weapons,” he added.
Onoja said Makinde had denied maltreating the girl and that the scars had been on Esther’s body before arriving at her place in Lagos.
He said, “Why will she pay money to get someone with scars like that? Why will she not take her to the hospital for medical attention? She’s yet to answer those questions.”
