It was reported that an unregistered non-governmental organisation took the victims from their homes in Benue under the guise of helping them to get medical care.
However, the organisation allegedly turned them into beggars.
The Chief Executive Officer of a human rights group, Supreme Family Entertainment International Initiative, Hemni Andrew, said when she got to know about the incident, she informed the police and the victims were rescued from a hotel in Egbeda.
According to Andrew, one of the victims, Mary Donald, was on the street begging when she overheard a passerby speak her dialect.
Andrew said, “Mary told us that they were planning to take them to an unknown destination and that was when we rushed to rescue them because we did not know where they were taking them to.
“Immediately I got the information on Wednesday, I couldn’t ignore it. I called the Gowon Police Station and the DPO helped us with a van that was used to rescue the victims as well as arrest the perpetrators; eight of them.
“We were at Area M Division around 2am. The perpetrators claimed that their organisation was registered, but couldn’t mention the name of the organisation. They even had a manager that the victims remit money to. They were using them for business."
“The woman, called Faith, who brought them from Benue State, bragged on the phone that there was nothing Lagos State could do to her."
Andrew urged well-meaning Nigerians to help the victims since she could not care for them all by herself.
