A Nigerian human rights organisation, Hopes Haven Foundation, has called for urgent intervention by the federal government to rescue Francis Julianah Omowunmi, a 27-year-old Nigerian woman who was trafficked to Iraq and allegedly subjected to rape and abuse by her employer.
The foundation told SaharaReporters that Omowunmi’s employer, who orchestrated her arrest and detention, is now attempting—through his lawyer—to coerce her into recanting her allegations in court by falsely claiming she was not raped.
SaharaReporters had earlier, on March 12, 2025, reported Omowunmi’s desperate appeal for help to return to Nigeria after she revealed being trafficked, assaulted, and abused by her employer in Iraq.
Omowunmi, who hails from Ekiti State in southwestern Nigeria, said she was lured to Iraq on October 7, 2023, by a man introduced to her by her brother-in-law.
However, she was syndicated to another agent in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, who then sent her to another agent in Lagos, one Alhaja Nafisat, who deceitfully transported her to Iraq with promises of a better life.
Omowunmi said her employer not only raped and physically assaulted her but also conspired with his friends, wife, and children to threaten her with death if she reported the assault to the authorities or her family.
She said the assault left her deeply traumatised and fearing for her life after her employer allegedly conspired with others to perform an unsafe abortion on her, causing severe pain and threatening to kill her if she spoke out.
Although her sister advised her to stay silent, she eventually confided in her employer’s wife after realising she had missed her period.
She recounted an incident when her employer visited her madam’s father’s house and, in a moment of confession, admitted to raping her. He begged her not to report him to the authorities, offering to give her anything she desired in exchange.
“However, since the day we withdrew the case and came back to the house, my madam has been maltreating me. For six months, she locked me inside and said that I was smelling. They did not give me food,” she said.
However, she was told that she would be returned to Nigeria, but nothing was done.
According to her, her boss brought one of his friends who compelled her not to tell the court that her boss raped her.
She said she refused to sign the document presented to her because her boss and his accomplices claimed in it that she had fabricated the rape allegation to demand her unpaid salary.
In the statement they wanted her to sign, they claimed that she had always been treated nicely and respectfully by her employer and that she had abandoned the lawsuit in court.
Following her refusal to sign the document, they took her back to prison while the case was still in court in Iraq.
Speaking with SaharaReporters on the current state of Omowunmi’s matter, Damilola of Hopes Haven Foundation said that a lawyer for Omowunmi’s employer reached out to his organisation, requesting that they were ready to settle the case out of court.
Damilola said his organisation, through its legal team, in a conference call with the Iraqi lawyer and Omowunmi’s elder sister, gave the conditions on which the case could be settled out of court, which he said the Iraqi lawyer accepted.
He said, “The lawyer of her employer reached out to us and said they wanted to settle out of court.
“At that meeting, we also brought in Omowunmi’s elder sister to join the call because she is also in Baghdad, in Iraq.
“We told them (Omowunmi’s employer’s lawyer) that if they want to settle out of court, they should get Omowunmi out of prison, buy her flight ticket back to Nigeria, pay off her outstanding salary which is about $1,200 and a compensation for her; everything amounting to a total of $7,000.”
Damilola said, “They agreed to our conditions,” noting that the lawyer said that there is a petition from the Nigerian government against them, on alleged rape of Omowunmi, and that they want the petition withdrawn.
“We told them that was beyond us because it has to do with the Nigerian government,” he said.
Damilola said, “To our surprise, the same lawyer went to check on Omowunmi in the prison and told her that they would be going to court.
“She told her he would get her a lawyer but that when they get to the court, Omowunmi should tell the court that her boss never raped her.
“She should tell the court that she lied against her boss because her boss refused to pay her salary.”
Damilola said that Omowunmi’s elder sister alerted Hope Haven Foundation about the Iraqi lawyer’s attempt to compel Omowunmi to lie against herself in court.
“We called the lawyer in a conference call and we told him that what he wants Omowunmi to do is not possible,” he told SaharaReporters.
“The agreement was that they want to settle out of court, hence, pay her everything we agreed on and return her to Nigeria.
“Trying to take her to the court to claim she was not raped means she defamed her boss and would send her to prison,” he said.
According to him, “The man (the lawyer) said that if that is what we are saying, then we should meet in court and Omowunmi will need to prove to the court whether she was raped or not.
“He said he would use all his power to ensure that they send that poor girl to jail.”
Pleading to the Nigerian government for urgent help rescuing Omowunmi, Damilola said, “We are using this medium to send an SOS (Save Our Soul) to the Nigerian government to get across to her employer as soon as possible and ensure that she is released, justice is served, she is paid all that she is supposed to be paid, and she gets compensated adequately.”