Five women tricked with job offers, held hostage in Abuja

Five women from northern Nigeria have accused a female agent of luring them to Abuja with fake job offers and then holding them hostage after they rejected the work assigned to them.

The victims—three single women, a divorcee, and a widow—said they were promised jobs as restaurant attendants or housemaids but were instead taken to Mabushi village, an area notorious for nightlife and illicit activities.

Speaking on the Brekete Family talk show on Human Rights Radio & TV, the women alleged the agent demanded ₦25,000 each for their release after they turned down the jobs, which they described as involving “immoral behavior.”

One victim, 20-year-old Asma’u Ibrahim from Katsina, said they spent their first night outside a shop with strangers gambling through the night, contrary to promises of safe accommodation.

Another, 25-year-old Aisha Sunusi, recounted how they were “screened” based on age and skin tone before being told to work as housemaids or roadside vendors.

With no money to return home, the stranded women sought help from the radio station after one of them pawned her mobile phone to pay for transport.

They included a widow, Khadijatu Kubura from Kano, and two others, Zahara’u Ibrahim from Jigawa and Aisha Yusha’u from Katsina.

Programme host Maryam Mbaka suggested the case may be linked to a cartel exploiting vulnerable women, while co-host Sulaiman Abdurrazaq said the matter would be reported to the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Ajao Saka Adewale, for investigation.