In Rivers State for example, a source at the Government House in Port Harcourt told one of our correspondents that arranging beautiful ladies for special guests of the state is nothing unusual. According to the source who asked not to be named, this is part of the entertainment given to such high profile guests on request especially when the state is holding any big event.
“I have been here (Government House) for many years and I know that it is a common thing to bring in beautiful ladies for guests who demand for them,” the source said.
Another source, who is a former government official, told Saturday PUNCH that, “providing girls for special guests at government lodges is not a new thing. It is done everywhere. Most times, these girls are on standby and when they are called, they come and keep the guests (males) company. It is practised everywhere and not only here.”
Though in Osun State, Governor Rauf Aregbesola according to findings by one of our correspondents, is not open to such lifestyle, some former aides under him are known to pass women around and even entertain their guests with such. Osun has no government-owned guest house, so visitors are accommodated at some popular hotels in Osogbo, the state capital.
He said, “They pay these girls as high as N50, 000 especially those coming for the first time. Subsequently, they pay less and at times they don’t give the ladies more than N10, 000. These aides have some young male students who help in recruiting these girls for their superiors.”
The situation is a bit worse in Akwa Ibom State where a former governor is alleged to have wasted the state resources frolicking with different women with many of such ‘entertainments’ taking place right inside government-owned facilities. On several occasions, the aides to the governor were said to have arranged between five to 10 women to serve the governor at the same time.
An aide who refused to disclose his identity for security reason, told one of our correspondents that in one of the instances, one of the 10 ladies that were taken to him, developed a headache. According to him, the governor asked that the lady be taken away but not without receiving N500, 000 as ‘appearance fee.’
Apart from the former governor, Saturday PUNCH reliably gathered that some of his commissioners and special advisers built houses in remote areas for their flings in a bid to avoid being seen in hotels. The sources also claimed that some of the women got brand new jeeps for their services.
The governor’s siblings are not left out of the show, too. A source told our correspondent that the governor’s brothers on several occasions imported women from Egypt and other North African countries just to have a nice time. In addition to the government houses and lodges, the big boys in the administration and even visitors to the state also used a very popular hotel in the state as well as other hotels that spread across Uyo.
In Abia State, the recruitment of ladies otherwise known as ‘conference materials’ for the pleasure of top government officials is a very sensitive issue and is usually handled by a syndicate, a top official told one of our correspondents.
The source who pleaded anonymity revealed that the syndicates who handle such matters run it as a big business, maintaining a high degree of confidentiality to avoid embarrassing government. He however said no government lodge in Abia is used to habour such ladies. The source further noted that the practice was no longer in vogue in Abia State owing to the unfavourable dispositions of recent administrations.
According to the source, ‘conference materials’ are usually recruited from tertiary institutions, and could also be school dropouts as well as professionals who do ‘runs’ to survive. He said that such ladies usually drop their contacts with the agents who simply put them on notice any time they are needed.
He said, “Their pay is dependent on the category of government officials or guests they are to entertain and the class of the ladies themselves.
“If the benefiting government official is from the Presidency or is a governor, the fee is usually high but if it is an official with lesser portfolio, the pay is lesser,” he said.
The source also said that the ‘performance’ of the ‘conference material’ could make her get more incentives from the end user as some of them get cars, houses, contracts or more cash for good displays.
“Any ‘conference material’ who impresses her end user can be booked for future engagements. Some of them are even moved to USA, Europe, Dubai and some foreign countries ahead of government officials.
“The type of money involved in the movement of these ladies is awesome. Government officials who are in this habit of patronising ‘conference materials’ waste so much funds on them,” the source said.
On the remuneration of the ladies, the source said, “The agent who recruits them disburses their pay depending on the arrangement.
“Some of the girls are paid N10, 000, some N20, 000, some N100, 000 and even N1m depending on the type of government official involved. Sometimes after assembling the girls, if any of them is not engaged, she is given a token like N10, 000 for transport. We call it ‘appearance fee’ or ‘thank you for coming package.’”
The source further said protocol officers are sometimes involved in the recruitment and movement of the ‘conference materials’ as very close aides of the government officials handle such ‘ jobs’ to avoid exposing their principals.
“What we do at such times is that when we get signals, we just allow the ladies to move on,” he said.
He, however, noted that not all governors condone the use of ‘conference materials’ and that during the administrations of such governors, the business does not thrive. The source also revealed that First Ladies are always ready to fall out with any protocol officer involved in recruiting ladies for their husbands because of the threat it poses to their families.
In Edo State, it was gathered that government guest houses built like private residences in strategic but less populous areas, like the Government Reservation Area in Benin, serve as a regular meeting point for government officials, their friends and a select group of ladies on regular basis.
A reliable source disclosed that some of the buildings have in the past 10 years served as meeting points for the highly-placed users. The ladies, who are mostly undergraduates of tertiary institutions in Edo, are usually transported from their hostels to the guest houses. But such movements, it was gathered, usually occurred at night to avoid attracting attention.
The source explained that the women receive between N10, 000 and N50, 000 or more for their services, depending on negotiations and the source of their connection.
“Entertaining guests with women is not new. That is a normal thing; it’s not peculiar to this state or the South-South. It is everywhere. The girls, who must be very attractive, are selected by special duty or protocol persons. They can earn up to N50, 000 based on their looks or connection.
“There are normal hotels and guest houses where rich men are supplied with girls during weekends but the major ones happen during political campaigns. The girls come in around 7:00pm or 9:00pm and leave as early as 4:00am,” the source said.
Investigations by one of our correspondents revealed that the large number of tertiary institutions in Enugu State serves as a reliable pool for protocol officers and governors’ personal assistants, whenever there is a need to provide young girls for their principals in the government house.
Enugu ranks as one of the states with the largest population of young girls in the country. It is home to several tertiary institutions like the Enugu State University of Technology, Institute of Management Technology, University of Nigeria, Enugu State College of Education, Caritas University, Godfrey Okoye University and Renaissance University, among others.
And, in an era where most female undergraduates combine their studies with ‘runs,’ or prostitution, it is not surprising that these protocol officers find it very easy to procure ladies for their bosses.
Sources at the government house informed one of our correspondents that so many girls have “made it” by associating with political office holders and their cronies since the current democratic dispensation commenced in 1999.
In fact, one of our correspondents learnt that these ‘runs girls’ go out of their way to cultivate the acquaintance of the protocol officers and Personal assistants of political office holders, who give out the “jobs.” It was gathered that most female students look forward to an “invitation” to attend any of the exclusive parties where the selected girls are passed around to the ‘big shots.’
According to a source, who is close to the corridors of power in the state, girls who participate in such activities are rewarded handsomely.
“These girls don’t take home anything less than N50, 000 just for a night, and that is when it is just a small party.
“In fact, the normal take home pac
kage for serious hook-ups ranges from N100, 000. The fee can even rise much higher when the girl is able to cultivate a personal relationship with the concerned patron. It is a known fact that from such casual acquaintance, some girls have been known to acquire choice property, cars, shops and even good jobs,” the source said.A former governor in the state is believed to have rewarded several young ladies with car gifts for their ‘intimate services,’ of course.
The source further explained that the protocol officers, and the PAs, usually establish contact with the young girls through ‘links,’ who are usually guys, or more experienced girls who have participated in such activities in the past. Such ‘links’ abound in most of the student residences, and hostels that litter the Coal City. The Government House source explained that the girls are usually camped in the more upscale hotels whenever the VIPs require their services.
In fact, according to the source, the protocol officers and PAs have established long standing business relationships with the managers of the concerned hotels, to the extent that rooms are reserved ahead of time, whenever the need arises.
The story is not different in Ondo State where guests are usually entertained with different kinds of girls during visits. A source at the Government House disclosed that the guests are usually accommodated at the VIP section of the Government House at Alagbaka, Akure, the state capital.
Punch
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