The ancient city of Calabar, the Cross River State capital was recently thrown into pandemonium as the State Police Command raided some brothels including the Peace Garden Hotel popularly called ‘flower mill’ and arrested 54 prostitutes alongside 56 men who had gone there to patronize them.
Mr. Jude Ngaji, the State Security Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade led the operation.
Addressing newsmen after the raid which lasted for about four hours, Ngaji said that the hotel had turned into a brothel for commercial sex workers in Calabar.
He added that the brothel had been used in the perpetration of criminal activities, selling of drugs and a hide out for criminals in the area.
“Given the tourism status of Cross River, Governor Ayade frowns on this despicable act where under aged girls are engaged in prostitution,” he lamented.
Continuing, he stated that “Governor Ayade has therefore vowed to take drastic and decisive measures to stem the ugly trend. He has directed that the place be raided and shut down forthwith.”
“Consequently, the governor has warned that other persons or groups involved in this unwholesome practice should in their own interest desist henceforth or face the wrath of the law,” he further warned.
According to him, the Office of the State Security Adviser in collaboration with security agents in the State is working tirelessly to ensure that criminals and prostitutes are shown the way out of the State.
According to him, “in collaboration with the office of the Area Command in Calabar, we used 11 trucks in conveying the girls and men to the Command.”
“Each time you pass here at night, you find under-aged girls of about 13 and 14 years standing by and waiting for men.
This place has become an area of concern to the state. This place has become a Sodom and Gomorrah in Cross River and the raid was carried out to stop prostitution and criminality in the state,” he noted.
“All the girls that were caught here are prostitutes and some of them were caught in a compromising position. There is no law that legalizes prostitution in Nigeria. The girls will be tried in court. and we will ensure that they are returned back to their respective states’’, he also explained.
He therefore advised teenage girls to take their studies seriously and engage themselves in meaningful activities, rather than choosing the path of prostitution as a means of livelihood.