Governor Chris N. Ngige: Saint, Conman or Crook (3)

Human Trafficking: African community response & Collusion of Government officials

New York, January 30, 2005—Many community association leaders and other individuals had called our office requesting clarification and examples of what human trafficking is all about. Some callers also wanted to know whether there is collusion of continental African leadership in this re-incarnated form of slave trade. Some also inquired on example of typical African community cultural response to the victims here in the U.S. High percentage of those callers requested that we make the case studies public to create more awareness. We oblige this request and here is one example out of three case studies on how an elite immigrant African encouraged his community to cover-up cases of human trafficking and abandoned the victims here in the U.S.

The Nnobi Association, New York and New Jersey

In about 1989/90, the indigenes of Nnobi town, Anambra State, Nigeria residing in the New York & New Jersey areas got together and formed a meeting called Nnobi Association (unregistered at that time). The most prominent member of the community, a plastic surgeon living in New Jersey and working in a New York City hospital was appointed chairman of the association. At the moment we will identify this individual as Dr. F. O.

Within the period, one of the members - a medical doctor (Child Psychiatrist) had traveled to Nigeria and brought an 11 years old girl (also from Nnobi) to take care of his two children, ages about 4 & 6, as well as, perform other household chores without pay. (At the moment we will identify this individual as Dr. G.A.E.) Shortly after, the Child Psychiatrist was arrested for impregnating the maid then 13 years old. Consequently, his two children and the maid were removed from his apartment by the New York City Child Welfare Administration and placed in foster care while the M.D. was charged for rape by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. The M. D. claimed that the little girl was not his maid but his junior wife he married in accordance with Nigerian culture and law. He presented sworn affidavit from Nigeria stating that he married the girl at about 11 years old. New York City Child Welfare Agency and The Bronx District Attorney Office meanwhile needed community assistance to understand this claim.

The medical doctor approached the Nnobi Association and requested financial assistance for the legal troubles according to him, his “maid put him through”. The association comprised of medical doctors, engineers, child welfare caseworkers, hospital lab technicians, taxi drivers, etc and all are fully aware of the case and the situation of the little girl. When the M.D. presented his request, some members of the association used the opportunity to request the association’s assistance for the small girl who was placed in foster home and may be undergoing through trauma and pain of aborting the pregnancy.

The Chairman - also a medical doctor, ruled by autocratic fiat that the association will not assist the M.D. in his troubles and that the little girl (victim) will not receive any assistance because she was not a member. He instructed the members never to get involved in the case in any way, shape or form. In the community, opinions of anyone in the status of the chairman carry the weight of law. Some members found the response of the autocratic chairman concerning the helpless little girl very insensitive and voiced discontent. They found out the hard way that elitist Chairman does not take kindly any dissent from “very little people” (new immigrants, people who are not Chairmen/Head of Department in a hospital, people who are not surgeons, and people who are not ‘solidly established’ financially like him).

The Chairman formed a close-knit clique within the association and targeted particular individual they consider ‘leader of the dissidents’ for elimination – character assassination, numerous false petitions to law enforcement agencies and finally plotted to murder him when everything else failed. They arranged to assassinate him in Nigeria and made it appear as armed robbery.

What happened to the individual the elitist chairman and his clique marked for elimination resulted in over ten years of city, state and federal investigations and will not be subject of discussion in this piece. Detail profile of individuals recruited by the Chairman to do it will also not be subject of discussion in this piece. But let’s just mention that the point persons in the clique were: (1) NYC child welfare caseworker who had a 13 years old girl-maid of her own at that time, (2) NYC-DAS caseworker who was swallowing and smuggling hardcore substance into the U.S. and (3) Hospital lab-technician who was selling anti-biotic medications in the black market. They were also involved in money laundering operations.

The impregnated 13 years old girl-maid stayed with an American family in foster-care for over 13 years. Her family ties were broken and her true identity was lost for several years. She had no papers. She has no family members or relatives in the United States. She was not visited by anyone. She lost command of her native Igbo language. She is currently stranded.

Saving Grace/Relief

She was about to be deported after receiving a leave notice from the U.S. Immigrations Service in about 1999. She received no assistance as a victim of trafficking until our organization Board members stepped into her case and provided clarity. The immigrations service was so generous to rescind the leave order and reviewed her case. Her case was so clear-cut, so overwhelming that she was one of the first three victims throughout the United States to be awarded a T Visa newly created by the U.S. Congress especially for victims of human trafficking. She has moved to supervised independent living with some benefits. Her goals are; to go back to school, adjust her immigration status, improve her health situation, and visit her family in Nigeria for the first time in over 17 years.

Our experience in this case is one of the reasons our Board members decided that there is need to establish our organization (Africans In America, Inc.)to focus on raising awareness on African human trafficking issues and providing advocacy and referral services to the victims. Two other known cases of human trafficking covered up by this Chairman will be subject of future discuss.

Here are some remarkable points to note from this case study:

• Lack of cooperation (cover-up engineered by the community leadership).
• Due to this lack of information, various city, state and federal agencies this victim passed through did not get the clear picture to provide her necessary services. How do we know? Because they told us so.
• This cover-up (engineered by the community leadership) prolonged the pains and suffering of this victim
• Cover-up of this nature may be considered a criminal act.
• The list goes on and on

Anyone who wish to clarify the authenticity and actuality of the above case study should feel free to contact:

1. Bronx District Attorney Office
2. New York City Administration for Children Services (ACS)
3. The Immigration & Naturalization Service, New York
4. United States Department of Justice

People should feel free to call or write the United States Department of Justice, Human Trafficking Bureau, Washington, D.C. and request reopening investigation on any question raised in this case study because that will assist in informed policy decision. The investigation will either clear the Chairman of any wrongdoing or hold him accountable.

Collusion of Nigerian Government officials

The current governor of Anambra State Dr. Chris Ngige is a family relative of the plastic surgeon who had engineered the Nnobi community in New York to abandon a 13 years old impregnated victim of human trafficking in about 1990. When the governor in mid-2003 wrote our partner organization (Freedom and Justice International, Inc.) requesting a reception to meet New York business and political leaders, we were excited and committed our meager funds and resources to organize series of event befitting a dignitary we thought the governor was.

However, upon arrival in New York, the Governor who we thought was a very smart fellow, smart enough to outwit the cronies of Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo and exposed some of the secret deals that had kept some parts of Nigeria on miserable state of under-development and poverty. However, the governor quickly succumbed to pressure from the plastic surgeon and few convicted felons in the U.S. to cancel his appearance in a very rude manner. Criminal syndicate practically hijacked the governor in New York.

Most remarkably, this incident actually confirms that the plastic surgeon is not yet done with mischief making. After the conviction and imprisonment of his two key clique members in 2000, he has not given up yet. We, however, remain watchful.

We hold Governor Chris Ngige responsible because he should understand the meaning of his office. He should not be a governor just to his family relatives but governor to all Anambra State indigenes including the stranded victims of human trafficking his plastic surgeon relative won’t want to assist, our board members his plastic surgeon relative hate to see alive or progress and every Anambra indigenes whether he agrees with them or not.

That notwithstanding, we were thoroughly embarrassed when Governor Ngige admitted that he had visited the fetish shrine at Okija town in Anambra State to perform some rituals prior to winning his election. However, he did not disclose in full details the sort of rituals he actually performed there. Other prominent members of Nigerian Federal Congress who also admitted visiting the shrine with him at about 2.00 a.m. have been publicly asking the governor to tell the police what he knows about dead bodies the police later discovered at the shrines.

The Nigerian police raided the same shrine the governor had visited to perform rituals and made a gruesome discovery of over 70 openly displayed human dead bodies and uncountable number of human parts at various levels of decomposition.

The police arrested the chief priests of the shrines and recovered about two registers containing names of some of the victims, as well as, names of some of the individuals that patronize the shrines as customers.

According to reports, among the individuals who went to the shrines to slaughter human beings for rituals are senior government officials including civilians, law enforcement, military, and businessmen. Most notable (publicly known at the moment) among them are State Governors and their family members, Members of Federal Senate and Federal House of Representatives, Members of the State Legislatures, prominent business people and local leaders.

The Irony

It is ironical that the elitist plastic surgeon who absconded from his job at University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria and escaped to the United States in the 1970s after clashes with the university personnel which he labeled ‘tribal injustices meted to him by the Yorubas’ is now taking undue advantage of his exalted status in the United States to recruit hardcore criminals and form syndicates to oppress and suppress freedom of ideas, opinion and expression including victims of trafficking within his own African community in the U.S.

Some of our Board members are from Nnobi town and lived in the community in Nigeria and U.S. Therefore, we are speaking from the authority of empirical and visceral experience and knowledge. We welcome rebuttal to any material fact in this piece.

Conclusion

The acquiescence of the immigrant African communities, as well as, the collusion of the African government officials are the major factors which make the eradication of this scourge very difficult.

Africans In America, Inc. is particularly concerned because based on our visceral knowledge of the local practice in Nigeria; most individuals slaughtered in those kinds of shrines for ritual purposes are normally victims of internal human trafficking.