By Ebi Kesiena
Twelve Nigerian men rescued from forced labour in the Central African Republic (CAR) have returned home, recounting harrowing experiences of abuse, including allegations of sexual assault by their Chinese employers.
This was contained in a statement over the weekend by the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) which disclosed that its Chairman and Chief Executive Office Abike Dabiri-Erewa, formally received the returnees in Abuja.
The rescue followed a video released three weeks ago, in which the men appealed to the Nigerian government for urgent help. They alleged that a Chinese mining company operating in Nigeria, identified as Rado Central Coal Mining, had taken them to CAR about ten months earlier under the guise of employment but abandoned them in the bush without pay.
In the video, one of the victims alleged that the company’s Nigerian general manager, Abdul-Almaruf Ademola Aregbe, returned to Nigeria soon after they arrived in CAR and ignored their pleas for assistance. He further claimed that Aregbe’s business partner, a Central African citizen identified as Amos, seized their passports, preventing them from leaving even when some were ready to fund their return journey.
“The distance from this place to Bangui is 8,050 kilometres, our location is Senye under Bambari region,” one of the men lamented in the viral video.
NiDCOM explained that following the video appeal, the Federal Government intervened through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Mission in Bangui. The victims were relocated to CAR’s capital, offered medical care, and later safely repatriated to Nigeria.
Describing the abuses as inhumane and unacceptable, Dabiri-Erewa assured the returnees that the Nigerian government would ensure justice is pursued on their behalf.
Speaking on behalf of the group, their leader, Igorigo Freeborn, recounted the trauma they endured. According to him, the men suffered months of unpaid labour, mistreatment, and sexual abuse at the hands of their Chinese employers.
“We were homosexually abused by our Chinese employers in CAR. I am not ashamed to say it. I want other people to learn from it,” Freeborn said.
