Cameroonian Man Arrested in Ghana for Kidnapping and Sexually Exploiting 17-Year-Old Nigerian Girl Under Pretext of Football Academy

A Cameroonian man living in Ghana has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and sexually exploiting a 17-year-old Nigerian girl under the pretext of helping her secure a spot on a football team.

Cesar Victoire Tsala, 55, is accused of maintaining inappropriate sexual relations with the teenage girl for about a year. The incident was confirmed by CAF Media Officer Ibrahim Sannie Daara in a post on X on Monday, October 20, 2025. Daara urged parents and young African footballers to remain vigilant and avoid schemes promising paid football academy placements. His warning followed the recent death of a Senegalese teenager in Ghana, who was lured with a similar false promise.

According to reports, Tsala allegedly transported and detained the victim while she was writing her West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE), claiming he was helping her join a football team. Instead, he is said to have sexually abused her.

Tsala, a trader, faces three criminal charges: human trafficking, abduction, and sexual assault, under Ghana’s Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694) and the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29). The complainant in the case is the victim’s relative, who resides in Ghana.

Court documents indicate that on September 16, 2025, the complainant and the victim reported the abduction to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service. The girl had been missing for a year. She managed to escape on September 12, 2025, revealing that she had been forcibly transported from Spintex, Accra, to Kasoa in the Central Region and then to East Legon, where she was reportedly abused.

The victim told police she was 16 at the time of her abduction. Tsala allegedly lured her with promises of providing basic necessities, teaching her French, and recruiting her for a football team, but detained her and prevented contact with her family. On September 18, 2025, she led police to East Legon, where Tsala was arrested. During interrogation, he reportedly admitted to keeping her in his custody for a year.

Investigations revealed that the victim had been brought from Nigeria to Ghana in 2019 to live with her aunt and continue her education. Tsala, a member of the same church as the victim and her aunt, allegedly gained her trust and used the complainant’s absence in 2024 to lure the girl into his custody. She was reportedly detained for seven months in Spintex before being moved to a guest house in Kasoa for a month and finally to East Legon, where the alleged abuse occurred.

The accused also reportedly prevented the girl from completing her WASSCE exams and deceived her with promises of football academy recruitment. The victim eventually escaped by feigning interest in the football opportunity and requesting to return home to retrieve her birth certificate, managing to flee on September 12, 2025.