Sex workers hold candlelight procession for slain colleagues in Abeokuta

ABEOKUTA—There was mild drama in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Monday night, as scores of commercial sex workers staged a candlelight procession in honour of their colleagues, who were allegedly killed by suspected ritualists, weekend.

Dressed in black apparels, the sex workers, who stormed the state secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta, wailed as they mourned their colleagues.

One of the dead, who was simply identified as Sitira, was found dead at a refuse dump site at Olomoore junction in Abeokuta on Sunday morning.

Suspected ritualists were said to have abandoned the corpse of the 23-year-old prostitute after severing some flesh from her body.

The late Sitira was said to have been thrown off a moving Sport Utility Vehicle, SUV, along Abeokuta-Lagos Expressway.

Speaking with reporters, the protesters claimed that beside Sitira, another colleague was killed by suspected ritualists.

They said the mutilated remains of the second sex worker was discovered in a ditch at Olomoore, Abeokuta.

During the procession, about 50 commercial sex workers, plying their trade in Abeokuta, converged on the NUJ secretariat and also at the nearby residence of former Head of Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan.

They identified Sitira with different names: Titi and Folake.

Bearing candle sticks, they chanted solidarity slogans and rained curses on the killers of their colleagues.

The sex workers momentarily barricaded the NUJ secretariat and later departed for the MKO Abiola International Stadium, Kuto, Abeokuta, where they continued their mourning.

They chanted: Oro nla leda, oro nla leda, eyin tepa Titi, t’eje odagba, oro nla leda. Omo yin maku, eeeheee omo yin maku, eyin tepa Titi t’eje odagba, omo yin maku.

It means: You have done something grievous, you have done something grievous. The killers of Titi (Sitira) have done something grievous. Their children will die, their children will die, those that killed Titi will lose their children.

Vanguard