EKITI State, once known as fountain of knowledge due to the insatiable appetite of the people for western education is gradually becoming the hub of teenage prostitution.

Daily Sun investigation in the state revealed that teenage girls now abscond from the parents’ home to hook up with boy friends and man friends for weeks.

Parents, it was gathered have become helpless as the female teenagers engage in unbridled quest for fun, drugs and sex.

Some of the girls smoke In­dian hemp with relish as they are camped in several hideouts of criminal gangs.

Some of the girls were res­cued recently in Ado Ekiti Lo­cal Government Area of the state. A member of the vigi­lance group that rescued the girls, Babatunde Owoeye gave insight into the ugly trend:

“We picked two of them in Atikankan area and the others in Oke-ila, Ado Local Govern­ment Area. The parents of one of the girls named Tolu have been looking for her for about two weeks ago. When we eventually got a tip-off about her whereabouts, we stormed the place and her friend helped tricked her to come out from the place for us to apprehend. Some tough looking young men in the place rushed out of the place, armed with cutlasses and tried to attack us. But when they discovered that we out-numbered them, they fled.

“We discovered that the girls camped in the hideouts, were made to have marathon sex with the bad boys, who intro­duce them to hard drugs and initiate them into cults. Many of the girls had absconded home for weeks.

The girls did not deny the allegations. 16-year-old Su­liya, said she left home nine days before she was caught. “I had dropped the palm oil my mother asked me to hawk at my grand mum’s place and followed my friends to visit the boys. I have a boy­friend among the gang. We had stayed with the boys till around 7pm that day and I reasoned that it was already too late. We passed the night with the boys and had sex with them. I was afraid to go back home, thinking that my mother would beat me, so we began to stay with my friends’ grandmother. We would sleep there and in the morning, eat and go to the boys’ place and stay with them till late in the night before returning to the grand mother’s place.”

She explained further: “We all have boyfriends among the Seven Stars cult in Atikankan. My own boyfriend had seized my cell phone when he said I was playing games on the phone when he wanted me to kiss and romance him and I refused.”

Tobi, 16, abandoned home when her mother sent her on an errand. She did not return until two days after, prompt­ing her angry mother to send her back to where she had gone. Her story: “So, I ran to my grand mother’s place and was staying with her. I also have a boyfriend among the boys. His name is Fatai but he is nicknamed Fatty.

“My boy friend buys clothes, shoes and bras for me and other things. He also feeds me and sometimes gives me N2, 500 to take care of my­self.”

The young girl also revealed how her boyfriend had intro­duced her to Marijuana: “The first time I tasted Marijuana. My boyfriend had mixed it with cooked spaghetti and gave me to eat. I felt high that day and since then I had been taking the stuff,” she said.

Assistant Commander of the Vigilance Group, South West zone, Mr. Femi Ogunl­eye, said complaints and use­ful information from parents assisted his group in raiding and apprehending the girls: “We acted on a tip-off from some of the girls’ friends and parents. We ransacked all the crannies of Ado slums, Oke-ila and Atikankan.

He called on the state gov­ernor, Ayodele Fayose to as­sist the vigilance group to curb crimes in the state.