US seeks extradition of Nigerian over forced labour

From The Punch
By Emmanuel Obe, Benin

April 25 2006—The United States Government has applied for the extradition of a Nigerian, Mr. George Udeozor, for subjecting a Nigerian girl to forced labour in the United States of America.

The Political Officer of the United States Consulate in Lagos, Mr. Gary Applegarth, said in Benin on Monday that Udeozor escaped from the United States after his wife, Stella, was charged with abusing the girl he brought into that country from Nigeria in 1996 to look after their children.

A court in Washington DC had last Wednesday convicted Stella for abusing the girl, simply identified as 'the victim.'

She was jailed seven years and made to pay a restitution of $110,249 (about N16million) to the victim.

The US official spoke at a programme to mark the Second Law Week of the Benson Idahosa University Law Students Association.

The week was organised by the Network for Justice and Democracy in collaboration with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Human Persons and other Related Matters

Applegarth who said Udeozor had been arrested in Nigeria, said the American government was expecting that he would be extradited to be tried for similar charges as his wife.

He said the victim had been taken from Nigeria in 1996 under false pretence that she would be educated in the United States if she lived with the defendant.

She was then 14.

But after she arrived in the US, she was put to work to care for the five children of the defendant and was never sent to school.

Rather, the defendant reportedly beat her while her husband allegedly raped her.

He said, "A jury convicted the defendant, a physician, after a six week trial in 2004, and after a one-year delay for appeals, sentenced her last week to seven years and three months in federal prison, and ordered her to pay restitution of $110,000 to her victim for her labour.

"The defendant will be deported when she finishes her sentence. She admitted entering into a sham marriage with another man to obtain citizenship. She and the man have since divorced. He has been arrested in Nigeria and is awaiting extradition."