A 27-year-old Nigerian woman, Francis Julianah Omowunmi, who was trafficked to Iraq, has made a desperate plea for help to return home after suffering rape and abuse at the hands of her employer.
Omowunmi, who hails from Ekiti State, Nigeria, said she was lured to Iraq on October 7, 2023, by a friend of her sister’s husband. She was first handed over to an agent in Akure, Ondo State, who then transferred her to another agent in Lagos, identified as Alhaja Nafisat. The Lagos-based agent deceitfully transported her to Iraq with promises of a better life.
Upon arrival in Iraq, Omowunmi was forced into domestic servitude, working for an employer who raped and physically assaulted her. She alleged that the employer, along with his wife, children, and friends, threatened her with death if she ever reported the abuse.
When she suspected she was pregnant, she confided in her employer’s wife, who took her to a hospital. However, she was drugged and subjected to an unsafe abortion without her consent.
“He gave me drugs, saying it was for a headache, but I knew something was wrong,” Omowunmi recalled. “I initially refused, but he threatened to beat me, so I took them.”
She later suffered severe stomach pain and was eventually thrown out of her employer’s home.
Desperate for help, Omowunmi sought legal action against her employer. However, she claimed that the legal process was being manipulated in favor of her abuser. Her employer visited her later and admitted to raping her but pleaded for forgiveness, promising to compensate her.
“Since the day we withdrew the case, my madam has been maltreating me. For six months, she locked me inside and said I was smelling. They did not give me food,” she said.
She also revealed that she was forced to sign documents written in Arabic, falsely stating that she was treated well and had abandoned her lawsuit.
“I refused to sign because they wrote lies, claiming my boss didn’t rape me and that I was making false claims to demand unpaid salary.”
Omowunmi said she had not received her six months’ salary and had spent four months in detention at the office of the agency that trafficked her.
Her story highlights the dangers faced by many Nigerian women trafficked abroad under false promises of better job opportunities.
A similar case was reported in December 2024, when Odunayo Eniola Isaac, a 28-year-old Nigerian woman from Osun State, cried out for help after being trafficked to Iraq and subjected to brutal treatment by her employer. She was eventually rescued in January 2025 after the Nigerian mission in Jordan intervened.
Omowunmi is now begging the Nigerian government and human rights organizations to help her return home before she suffers further harm.