Gyang Bere, Jos
Never in the history of pornography has scandal come clothed with such tragedy. A group of women that reportedly include the married and the engaged-to-be-married, agreed to do a pornographic video with a male producer and marketer in exchange for what they thought was a mouthwatering financial offer – thirty pieces of silver, nay, N1, 000 notes, in the first instance, and 100 pieces of it, one year later, if all went well and each side kept their own part of the bargain.
The deal? The videos were not going to be shown in Nigeria where their husbands, lovers, relations and neighbours would see them and recognize their faces and raise hell thereafter, the young man, assured. And with that, the desperate women jumped on the bandwagon of what they saw as a fair business deal.
Things fall apart
But somewhere along the line, things fell apart when the falcon could no longer hear the falconer. Barely one year after, the videos the porn producer promised would not be shown in Nigeria or anywhere near it, mysteriously surfaced on social media, long after the women thought they had done their part and moved on with their lives, to start haunting their memories. And, to worsen it all, with the exception of the initial payment of N30, 000, the N100, 000 that was earlier promised each participant, was nowhere to be found. As they say in Nigerian social interaction lingo, it turned out that it has developed wings and flown into ‘voicemail’, or even call it ‘audio money.’
The result? Mere anarchy was loosed upon the world. As soon as the videos popped up on a particular website and people began downloading them in Jos, pandemonium broke loose as many married women and young girls involved were identified. Following their wide circulation, it was gathered that some of those involved could no longer stay in their communities due to stigmatization. Though the videos were later taken down, the damage had already been done. Efforts are now on to psychologically and materially rehabilitate some of the women involved.
In fact, one of them had committed suicide, and as you will soon read here, efforts are on to make sure another one who had earlier attempted suicide but failed, does not go the same way when people who have been set to watch over her drop their guard. Her case is pathetic. Her dowry was paid only last December and she was getting ready for the white wedding when the bubble of her pornographic indulgence, burst. As things stand now, her fiancé is in a fix as to whether to go on with the wedding or not. Asked what his decision is, he told Saturday Sun that he would consult with his people first before knowing what to do next.
Pastor Jemimah Mbaya of the Latterhouse Christian Centre in Jos, who has met with some of the girls to counsel them, confirmed in a video on her Facebook page that one of the girls actually committed suicide. Though she frowned upon women selling themselves for money, she appealed to the society not to be hostile to those caught in the act, but to rather show them love. Pastor Mbaya who promised to initiate some kind of assistance for the girls, urged young women with financial needs to approach religious centres for help rather than engage in immoral acts.
Shame, shocks, disbelief and trauma
As things stand at the moment, it has turned out to be the very epitome, nay, plateau of sex scandals. The sex videos which reportedly started trending on social media from late last year and setting Plateau State ablaze with shocks and gossips have proved that, as the Good Book said, there shall be nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest.
Parents whose daughters were identified in the videos have no place to bury their heads in shame, while those who have daughters within the age range of 20 and 29 are praying for their female children not to be fingered in the embarrassing act.
Saturday Sun gathered that some of them who have been identified in the videos are traumatized and passing through excruciating pains with some threatening to commit suicide. Sorry, so sorry. The videos whose presence became publicly known following an embarrassing leakage, have dominated the social media circle, and are currently being shared round by residents, particularly where some of the women who acted the video are known faces.
Some of the ladies interviewed in some of the videos identified themselves as Lizzy, Lydia, Aisha, among others, from Nigeria. They were said to have been lured into participating in the making of the highly sexually explicit videos with payment of N30,000.
It was gathered that the porn videos which were staged by compromiseagents.com, a website allegedly owned by one Emeka, who has gone underground, at the moment, to evade arrest, had promised the women that they would not be sold in Nigeria. They were said to have been shot in an undisclosed hotel in Rayfield, Jos, with some shot in his house at Fwavwai, Rayfield, Jos, Plateau State.
In the videos, the man, who is said to have been in the business since 2016 before it caught on like wildfire, promised the women N30, 000 per shot and N10, 000 commission to anyone who referred a friend. In addition, each participant was to earn N100, 000 annually. The poor women who had no knowledge of how Internet has made the world a global village, ignorantly fell for the bait and competed daily in introducing their friends and peers into the sex business under the false belief that the videos would only be viewed overseas.
Hafisat’s pathetic story
But some of the girls were shocked when their parents, boyfriends and relations started calling to query why they should take part in such show of shame. Most of the girls who were born and brought up in Jos where they are well known faces are said to be currently going through indescribable trauma.
One of them who gave her name as Hafisat spoke to Saturday Sun in Jos. She narrated how her family friend lured her into the business when her brother was dying from typhoid fever at Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos, sometime, early 2019. She confessed to have taken the option to save her brother from death. But today she regrets her action and has vowed never to engage in such shameful act again.
The 22-year-old young woman from Delta but who is resident at Busa Buji, a suburb of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State said she was introduced into the business by one of her friends called Rose who lives at U-tan, Jos.
Her story: “She talked to me about the business and took me there along with another friend of mine. She told me that she would take me there for an assessment and that if the man found me pleasant, he might accept to run it with me. So we went to the man and we sat together and he explained to us what is involved. He said if we had sex with him naked and it is video-recorded, he would give us N30, 000 and if we referred other people, we would get N10, 000 for each person and if the video reached one year, we would get N100, 000. I agreed and we got into it and he gave me N30, 000 that day. After one year, I went to U-tan to check on my friend, Rose, who introduced me because I didn’t have the phone number of the guy, to ask her about the man because it has reached one year now.
“But each time I got there, I would not meet her. This January, my father came back one day and was asking me what did I do? I said, like what? And, he said when his elder brother comes back I would explain what I did, to him. When he came, he showed me my photo and I now remembered what they were talking about. Initially, I tried to deny it because he told us that the videos were not going to be sold in Nigeria.”
Asked why she chose to go into such immoral business, she blamed it all on the parlous financial state of her family. “That time my brother was not feeling well and I didn’t know what to do,” she said. “I was the only one in the house with my father and he was not feeling well too. There was nowhere I could get money to save my brother. That was why I agreed to follow my friend to meet the man for the business. My brother was in the hospital in Jankwanu suffering from typhoid fever and there was no money to treat him; I used the N30, 000 to treat him and I bought foodstuff with the remaining money and we ate at home.”
She gave further insight into their poor financial state. “My father is no longer working and my mother is late. I have finished my secondary school and I could not further my education because there is no money. I am thinking of learning a trade but I don’t have money to start. My elder brother lives in Kada-byu in Jos and he is not doing anything. I don’t know if he has gotten a job now. As we speak now, I don’t know what to do. My uncle wanted to beat me but my aunt said I should be handled carefully so that I don’t go out and harm myself out of frustration.
“I did that thing when I was 22-years-old but now I am 23. Sincerely I regret my action. But if I had not done it, my brother would have probably died. Now that he is alive, I will never do that again. I have not seen the video; my daddy’s brother only showed me my picture, not the video. I saw my picture but not fully naked. I only saw my face where the video was shot. The video was shot in a hotel at Rayfield. I also know his (Emeka’s) house in Rayfield. When my father got to know about it, he told me that I should not hurt myself, that it has already happened and that it is something that is going to pass.”
Asked about her boyfriend’s reaction, Hafisat said she doesn’t have a boyfriend at the moment because she just parted ways with her former boyfriend because of the same issue. Though deeply pained by the episode, she takes solace in the fact that one day it would be a forgotten issue. “I no longer walk about the community freely because people have been talking about me but I know it is going to pass. Some people who were angry and were not talking to me approached me and said they don’t want to continue to keep malice with me and we have started talking.”
On why her boyfriend decided to call it quits with her, she said: “After he heard about it and I explained to him the reason I did it, since then he has not been picking my calls.” Though she regrets her action, she is happy that her brother is alive. She expressed willingness to learn some trade or skills and pleaded with members of the public to come to her aid because she does not know what would happen to her next as several thoughts, including that of suicide, are running through her mind.
Danladi, a fiancé in a dilemma
But for one of the ladies, the revelation came at a very wrong time: at a time she was planning to wed. In fact, her fiancé, 33-year-old Danladi, who pleaded that her name should not be mentioned in print, admitted that he is now in a fix as to whether to go on with the planned wedding or not, after paying her dowry just last December. Danladi who hails from Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State said he is traumatized by the whole development, especially after watching the video. He looks very worried about the whole thing.
When the videos hit the social media he never knew that his fiancee was involved, he said. The young man who spoke to Saturday Sun in Jos revealed his conversation with his girlfriend who was said to have taken poison on learning about the circulation of the videos. But she was rescued through the prompt intervention of her neighbours.
“With my fiancée, I watched most of the videos before I went for a burial on Thursday, January 9, 2020, because she lost her grandmother. To tell you the truth, I was shocked and speechless by what I saw. After the burial, somebody called her aside and asked what was happening. She said she watched some videos and asked whether she was the one in the video. The person asked her to say the truth whether she was the one. After some time, another of her friends called to ask her what was going on.
“After some time, she told me that she wants to tell me something and I told her that where we were standing was not conducive. I said we should find a place and sit. As we were going, she asked me if she killed herself would I forgive her. I said no, I wouldn’t forgive her. I then asked her why she would kill herself. I asked her: have you reconciled with your former boyfriend? She said no. Are you pregnant? She said no. She was just crying profusely and she told me that the videos I showed her before, she did it, only once, but in 2016.
“She was just crying. I told her to stop crying, that this is not the end of life. She then demanded to quit the relationship. After we came back from the burial, I asked her to come to my house. She said no. I was told that she took poison after then and they gave her red oil and she vomited it.
Thereafter, she was revived. There was a pastor (Jemimah Mbaya) that heard about the issue. She invited her to her church and counselled her not to take her life because of the matter. She also called me to the church and talked to me and said I should go and think about it if I still want to take her as my wife.
“I paid her dowry in December 2019 but that video was shot three years ago. She told me that the reason she did it was because her sister was in the hospital and there was no money to buy drugs for her. It was during that period that one of her friends introduced her to the business. I asked her: where is that her sister? She said she didn’t survive the sickness. I told her now that the video is out, nobody would believe that she did that in order to get money with which to save her sister who was in the hospital. She is now bearing the consequences of her act.”
Asked whether he would still go ahead with the scheduled wedding, Danladi noted that he would want to consult with his family first, especially his mother, who is in the village before taking the final decision on the matter. As for Hafisat, at the moment she has relocated from Busa Buji to the village to stay with her sister because, as she explained, she can’t interact freely with people who had watched her video and who are aware of what she did.
Amanda’s battles with mistaken identity
Even so, the matter appears not to be over yet as another lady who gave her name as Amanda is battling with the case of a mistaken identity over the same issue. According to her, her neighbours have been pointing accusing fingers at her wrongly for allegedly being involved in the making of the pornographic videos whereas she was not.
The young woman who feels terribly traumatized by the whole development told Saturday Sun that the public is mistaking her for another lady who she says resembles her. “I was sitting in the house when I discovered that people have started isolating me. Initially, I didn’t know why. They were discussing something about me without my knowledge. Some of them even sent me the pictures, telling me that they know what I have done. It is only when I saw the pictures that I knew what was going on. Although there were some facial resemblances with the lady in question, I knew that I was not the one because we are not of the same height. If you don’t look at the picture critically, you will believe that I was the one but the only thing that saved me was the video.
“It turned out that the man usually interviewed the girls before they went into their act. So from the video you can see clearly that I wasn’t the one. I have tried to make people understand this but they simply don’t want to. Some people usually send me the pictures and asked me to tell them who the person is if I am not the one. But I have seen the girl once and I don’t know where she lives. I don’t know where such videos were recorded and I don’t know who the man is.”
The matter is so serious that Amanda who is resident in U-tan has gone to Unity FM, a local radio station in Jos, to clear her name: to say that she was not the one involved in the shameful act. “As I am now, I can’t move freely in the community. I have been crying indoor. Nobody seems to understand my position. I stay with my grandmother and I have never acted nude video in my life,” she stated.
Police react, tell victims what to do
Plateau residents say they have been waiting anxiously for the police to arrest the young man involved. But police authorities are insisting that they cannot do so until there is a formal complaint from victims.
Contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer of Plateau State Police Command, DSP Tyopev Matthias (Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP), said there has been no formal report to the police on the videos. He called on the victims to come forward to make an official statement to enable them commence investigation on the matter.