Liberian hairdresser stranded in Lagos

Liberian hairdresser stranded in Lagos

In the 1990s, the Nigerian government spearheaded the formation of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) to restore peace in the war-torn Liberia. Hundreds of Nigerian troops were shipped to the West African country. But as it turned out, the Nigerian soldiers had another agenda: On the one hand, they waged peace and on the other hand, they waged (sex) war against the Liberian women.

The Nigerian soldiers stood out among their fellow armed forces drawn from other West African nations. They were more generous with cash, a trademark of the stupendously rich country they went to represent. And before the smoke from the last gun fired could subside, the Nigerian soldiers had fathered no fewer than 250,000 kids! The startling revelation was made in July 2010 by the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA) during an interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora.

The show of opulence by the Nigerian soldiers soon rubbed off Nigerian men resident in Liberia. The Liberian women saw every Nigerian man as wealthy and as such would do anything under the sun to get hooked by any of them. Back home in Nigeria, many ex-ECOMOG soldiers were said to have boasted of impregnating a large number of Liberian women. In fact, a Liberian woman actually came to Nigeria in search of “Oga-soldier”. She located her runaway man but the oga quietly eased her back in order to avoid embarrassment and scandal because he had a large family back home.

Today in Liberia, the girls and women look forward to coming to Nigeria as many from the Third World Countries are desperate to go to the United States of America. No thanks to the grinding poverty prevalent in that land.

In this era of Facebook, which is a reminiscent of pen pal corner in the 70s, relationships are easily struck among people across the globe. Many a facebooker have been hoodwinked into friendships, some which have ended in heart break or tragedy, the recent being the gruesome murder of a post-graduate student of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Miss Cynthia Osukogu. She was lured to her death by phony Lagos-based business associates she met on the social network.

A Liberian hairdresser met her Nigerian man friend on the Facebook and the duo struck a seamy relationship. Unknown to her, her friend was suffering from utopianism, an instance of living a false life. On his Facebook platform were photographs of a breathtaking mansion supposedly located at Lekki in Lagos. In the sprawling compound were a fleet of assorted choice cars and jeeps. With the manipulation of computer, the Nigerian deceiver positioned himself in the midst of the automobiles and cut the picture of a man next to Aliko Dangote by measure of opulence.

The Liberian hairdresser could not believe her luck when she struck the relationship with “one of the richest men in Nigeria” who preferred to lie low rather than throw his weight of wealth around. A couple of months into the relationship, she got her man to invite her to Lagos. It was after dillydallying for a while, giving the impression that he is not easily available as an international businessman.

Eventually, the Liberian woman took off for Lagos. And because she was going to cross the Rubicon, she sold everything she had, shut down her hairdressing business and headed for Lagos by air. After a smooth flight, she arrived in Lagos and was welcomed by the chaotic traffic of the city. Then, the drama began to unfold. Disappointment number one: her man was not at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport to receive her. Disappointment number two: all his mobile lines were not available. Disappointment number three: her man’s mansion was not located at the Lekki address because no such structure exists in the area.

Frustrated, the hairdresser checked into a hotel and continued to make attempts at contacting her man. Day in, day out, hotel bills mounted and at the risk of being thrown into the street, she decided to find a solution to her dilemma. Having run out of cash, she decided to commercialise her body as a means of raising money to get herself back to Liberia. She is presently combing the city looking for where to sojourn while she plies the trade unwittingly forced on her by her Facebook man.

P.S: The account rendered above took place long before the coming of Ebola to the West Coast.