US embassy cable - 04ABUJA1440

UNCLAS ABUJA 001440 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SMIG, ELAB, PHUM, KWMN, PGOV, NI, HUMANRIGHTS 
SUBJECT: ANTI-TRAFFICKING AGENCY ARRESTS AND DISPLAYS TWO 
"JUJU MEN," ALSO ARRESTS TWO TRAFFICKERS 
 
REF:  ABUJA 1373 
 
1.  Summary.  At a press conference on August 10, Nigeria's 
anti-trafficking agency announced the arrests of two "juju 
men" (practitioners of fetish magic).  The two juju men were 
used to facilitate prostitution and trafficking by scaring 
victims to silence.  The following week, the agency 
announced the arrests of two accused traffickers.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in 
Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) held a press 
conference on August 10 to announce the arrests of two "juju 
men" (practitioners of fetish magic) who allegedly engaged 
in recruiting victims of human trafficking in Edo State. 
Besides the assembled media, NAPTIP invited representatives 
of the US and Japanese embassies, along with the anti- 
trafficking program heads of the International Labor 
Organization (ILO) and United Nations Office on Drugs and 
Crime (UNODC). 
 
3.  The juju men are being held by NAPTIP as prosecution 
witnesses, which NAPTIP hopes will puncture the myth of 
juju.  Trafficking victims rarely agree to testify against 
their traffickers, because of juju oaths of silence they 
have taken, the violation of which would result in their 
deaths (reftel).  A NAPTIP spokesman said that seeing the 
juju men in custody might encourage victims to break their 
oaths and speak out. 
 
4.  The two juju men, Prince Omoruyi of Ehengbuda shrine and 
Goddy Akhimeon of Uromi, were brought into the press 
conference and asked by NAPTIP's head of investigation to 
describe the items on display, which had been confiscated 
from their shrines.  Clippings of women's pubic hair and 
fingernails would be kept in the shrine until the "curse" 
was lifted.  The juju men explained that they "blessed" the 
semen of male customers of prostitutes in order to prevent 
the transmission of AIDS; a pile of semen-stained tissues 
was displayed among the evidence.  Both juju men kept 
diaries containing names, dates, and countries where women 
were trafficked.  One juju man showed an oracle guide he 
used to "bless" women that they do well as prostitutes in 
Western Europe, well enough "to marry white men."  Dozens of 
photos of trafficked women were on display; media were 
requested not to retransmit any of the victims' images. 
 
5.  NAPTIP's head of investigation specifically mentioned 
the USG, telling Poloff before the assembled media that the 
USG should look at NAPTIP's prosecution of the juju men as a 
"best practices" model.  He said that the two cases would be 
filed in Benin City, Edo State, where the juju men were 
arrested. 
 
6.  He also stated that investigation is capital intensive, 
requiring significant travel by investigators both inside 
Nigeria and abroad.  He announced to the press that NAPTIP 
works together with the "anti-mafia bureau" in Italy, which 
shares information with NAPTIP, and with the USG, which had 
helped to fund "sensitization tours" to eleven southern 
states. 
 
7.  The following week, NAPTIP announced the arrests of two 
Edo State residents for trafficking.  A NAPTIP spokesman 
told Poloff that one female trafficker had brought three 
women to Cotonou, Benin, by promising them jobs in Italy, 
then left them to support themselves through prostitution 
and returned to Edo State to get more women.  The group in 
Cotonou refused to engage in prostitution, forcing the 
"madam" to return to Benin, where she reported to the 
Nigerian Embassy in Cotonou that "her girls were 
misbehaving."  The Embassy suspected trafficking and 
contacted NAPTIP, who arrested the woman, along with her 
Nigerian partner.  The spokesman told Poloff a conviction is 
"near certain" with the evidence and victims' testimony. 
 
8.  Comment:  Nothing is certain with the Nigerian 
judiciary, however, except that the pace of justice is very 
slow.  While the arrests show some good efforts on the part 
of the GON, it remains to be seen whether those efforts will 
be translated into results, in the form of convictions.  End 
Comment. 
 
CAMPBELL