The mother of one looked embarrassed as the camera repeatedly focused on her boobs and private part. She was about to take an oath somewhere in Dubai.
Chisom left Nigeria to Dubai, with high hopes, she never realised she was going to be lured into sex slavery. She was expected to sleep with several men in Dubai and raise 30,000 US dollars to pay her madam.
The money was allegedly to cover for transportation to Dubai, accommodation and feeding paid by her madam.
The payment of the money will release her from slavery. But as the camera rolled and her madam ordered her to take an oath, sealing her fate, Chisom knew she had bitten more than she could chew.
As the video rolled, she attempted to cover her boobs and private part with her hands, but her madam, handling the camera, shouted, “Remove your hands!”
The madam repeated harsh, stern words, ordering Chisom to repeat the words as she said them. Part of the words Chisom repeated are: “My name is Chisom, and I came to Dubai for prostitution. I will pay my boss fully. I don’t want any trouble. If I fail to do so, I won’t be able to face the trouble alone, my generation will do so! I shall make money in this country if I finish paying my boss.”
The madam, now identified by operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), as Esther Otubo Nicole, was not satisfied with just the video recording, which she needed to force Chisom into submission to prostitution. She still needed to instil fear. Thus in a chilling voice that apparently sent shivers down the spine of Chisom who had just arrived Dubai, Nicole said: “You said the money you would pay me is N1.4 million. It’s not true! Its 30,000 dollars. That’s what I charge all my girls! Didn’t they tell you? If you don’t make me angry, it shall be well with you.
Nobody cheats me Chisom. If you fail to pay me, I shall post this video on Facebook and other social media for people to see. But if you finish paying me, I’ll call you and I’ll delete it. Nobody will see the video except me. Nobody can hide my money. Don’t lie to me. Go and ask others about me.
Don’t do anything that will make me touch you. My hands are too ‘strong.’ Make sure you fight and struggle with any guy to collect your money! It’s your money! Whatever I tell you to collect, is what you should collect. Don’t let the man go, except I tell you to let him go!” Chisom and another victim, Ann, tried all they could to carry out their madams’ demand. Chisom and Ann would later tell NAPTIP Agency that they decided to escape after they realised that it would take years for them to raise 30,000 dollars via sex.
They worked for between three to four months before they dared the lionesses and fled. They were each, already being forced to sleep with over 20 Arab men daily, but whatever they were paid, seemed like a drop in the ocean. A NAPTIP operative said: “They told us that most of the Arab men would sleep with them and wouldn’t want to pay them. Most of these men, because they didn’t want to pay, would beat them up and when they go back to their madams, the madams would beat them too. Chisom and Ann escaped because they were sure they would soon be killed. Ann is now in our shelter, but Chisom is still in Dubai. We’re already trying to bring her home.”
It was gathered that after the ladies absconded from their madams, a Good Samaritan kept them in hiding in Dubai. It was the same Good Samaritan that assisted NAPTIP via Facebook, in its covert investigations, leading to the arrest of five of the madams in Nigeria. The five suspects are Blessing Gabriel 25, who is the prime suspect, Precious Ejiro Owoh, 29, Rose Gabriel, 25, Priscilla a.k.a Prisca Effiong Bassey, 33 and Terry Homuere Smooth, 38.
When NAPTIP operatives stormed Smooth’s home, located at Lekki, they recued 27 girls. “The girls were being used for prostitution in Nigeria, but also in preparation to send them to Dubai. Each of these girls, used to pay Smooth N10,500 every week, said an operative.” When the madams of Ann and Chisom realised that the ladies had fled the nest, they uploaded the nude videos. The idea was to cause social and psychological torture to the ladies and perhaps reduce them to spectres of mockery. Either way, the ladies would be traumatised. The madams however never bargained that their grand plan would boomerang.
The videos didn’t only cause international uproar, but also made international and local security agencies, which are in the forefront of fighting human trafficking, begin to hunt for them. Ann’s madam, Blessing Gabriel was said to have sneaked into Nigeria for her traditional marriage around September 12, 2015. She was picked by NAPTIP operatives the week she was about to go back to Dubai.
Gabriel said: “I got to know Ann through Precious Ejiro Owoh. My sister, Rose, sent pictures of Ann to me. Something happened. I told Ann that she had to swear, but she said she wouldn’t disappoint me. I work with a travel agency in Dubai. Our agency used to get jobs for people. When Ann came, Gina picked us up at the airport.
Gina took Ann into a room, I didn’t know what happened. Gina told me that she needed prostitutes. I called Precious, Precious called Ann and she agreed. Ann was asked to pay 30,000 dollars by Gina.” Investigation revealed that the syndicate used to lure unsuspecting Nigerian girls to United Arab Emirate (UAE), Dubai and force them into prostitution.
The girls would be made to strip naked and their nudeness videotaped and later used to blackmail them into submission. The syndicate is behind two videos which went viral some weeks back on the social media.
The videos showed two girls, stark naked, promising a woman, video taping them that they would never run away with her money. They had further taken an oath that calamitous events would befall them if they fail to keep to their promises. Assistant Director, Head, Press and Public Relations, NAPTIP, Mr. Josiah Emerole, said that NAPTIP was already working with Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) and an international agency to arrest other fleeing madams in Dubai. Emerole said: “Early August 2015, the media, especially the social media was awash with nude visuals of two of our citizens, Ann and Chisom, filmed and uploaded by some of our unpatriotic citizens engaged in trafficking of girls from Nigeria to Dubai, the United Arab Emirate for sexual exploitation.
“The nude visuals which caused some uproar within many circles in Nigeria and raised questions among our international partners showed the two girls being forced to swear to an oath of allegiance separately while nude. They were made to claim that they came to Dubai of their own volition to engage in prostitution and ready to obey their madams without reporting to anybody. The women that filmed the videos threatened to upload the nude visuals if the girls did not act accordingly.
The blackmail videos are part of the Dubai Syndicate’s control mechanism which also includes oath taking, and confiscation of travel documents to ensure obedience and submission.” Emerole explained that based on this despicable and criminal act, NAPTIP went into action in collaboration with other sister law enforcement agencies locally and internationally to fish out these criminals and their agents in Nigeria and to rescue the victims. Emerole added: “One of the two victims, Ann, has also returned safely to Nigeria while Chisom is out of the reach of her traffickers. The Agency is in steady touch with her and working with other partners to assist her.”
Recollecting how the syndicate met its waterloo, Emerole said: “September 8, 2015, officers of the Lagos Zonal Command arrested the Dubai based Blessing Gabriel who trafficked Ann. She was trailed and apprehended at Agboroko Village, Iba New Site, Lagos where she was in hiding. She sneaked into the country for her traditional wedding. Earlier surveillance and raid operations by NAPTIP officers at two residents in Lekki Phase 1 and Oke- Ira Nla, Ajah, Lagos led to the arrest of Priscilla Effiong Bassey and Precious Owoh who investigations identified as suspected recruiters for the Dubai Syndicate. Terry Smooth, owner of a hideout for girls, from where one of the victims, Chisom, was recruited and trafficked to Dubai was also apprehended. Rose Gabriel, the key suspect’s sister was also apprehended for her role in the trafficking ring.”
Emerole revealed that preliminary investigations indicated that Gabriel has other accomplices in Dubai namely: Gina, Fegor Ebony Ejeba, and Nicole Esther Otubu. He added: “Efforts are underway to track them down!”
Owoh denied having any discussion with Gabriel on taking Ann to Dubai for prostitution. She said: “There was no discussion between Blessing and I about prostitution. Blessing said she was a hairstylist. Ann said she didn’t care the nature of the job. She just wanted to go to Dubai and work. But Blessing told me that Ann would be going for prostitution!” Recalling how Ann and Chisom were trafficked, Emerole explained that sometime in April 2015, Ann was recruited from Lagos by Owoh for Gabriel who was in Dubai. Gabriel was responsible for her travel expenses. The process of preparing her for Dubai was coordinated by Gabriel’s sister Rose Gabriel who attempted to force her to a shrine for the barbaric oath of secrecy. On arrival in Dubai, the oath of secrecy which could not be administered in Nigeria was forcefully administered on her and video recorded.
“This recording was later released on You-tube after she escaped from her exploiters in Dubai, where she was forced into prostitution contrary to the initial promise that she would be given a job as a hairstylist,” said Emerole. In the case of Chisom, Emerole said that sometime in May 2015, one Princess brought Chisom a.k.a Gold to stay in Smooth’s housed Lekki Phase 1, Lagos. The house which Smooth pays N3.2m per annum is a five-bedroom duplex with two-room Boys’ Quarters. She allegedly uses the building to harbour girls from within and outside Nigeria and charges them N10,500 each per week.
It was in this house that Chisom met Priscilla Bassey Effiong who claimed to be a businesswoman. It was from Smooth’s house that Effiong, also known as Prisca, recruited Chisom for Ebony Fegor who had been an ally of Effiong since 2011.
Emerole noted: “Priscilla has confessed that she knew that Chisom was going to Dubai for prostitution. She claimed that since Chisom left Nigeria in July 2015, she did not hear from her or Fegor until she saw Chisom’s nude video on the internet. She also claimed that when she called Fegor to enquire of the reason for such an action, Fegor denied any knowledge but admitted that she had recorded it to instil fear in Chisom so that she would pay back the money she expended on her.” Smooth in her statement, said that she knew Effiong and Chisom as both of them had lived in her house and stayed in the same room allocated to them by her.
She said she was still in possession of Chisom’s mobile phone and clothes because Chisom still owed her some money. Smooth however denied being part of the Dubai trafficking ring. She said: “I’m into Fashion. Gold (Chisom) came to me, to look for modelling work. She later left my apartment. When I saw her video, I alerted the police. Yes, I held onto Gold’s phone and clothes because she owes me some money. The entire girls that stay with me pay, because I can’t possible pay the gatemen, cleaners and stock the house with food, fuel the generator and all that alone!” Stating her own side of the story, Effiong said: “Gold and I met in Terry’s home at Lekki. Gold kept telling me to take her to Dubai. I connected her to Fergo. Fergo had been there for long. But Gold was a prostitute in Lagos before she left for Dubai. We stay with Terry and pay her N10,500 every week. We leave home every morning to ‘hustle.’”
Emerole said that all the above stated activities were in violation of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015. He said that the suspects so far arrested and interrogated would be arraigned in court very soon, while efforts are being intensified at diplomatic level to track other members of the syndicate still in Dubai. Reacting to the incident, the commander, Lagos State Command, Mr. Famakin Joseph said: “These kids were lured into prostitution. The girls ran away because they had had enough of the slavery! Before they ran away, the madams forced them to take an oath. Now our boss has ordered us to go and fish out the traffickers behind the videos! We’re not done with our investigations, but once we’re through, we would charge them to court!”
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