Friends of Esther Otubo, (known also as Nicole Otubo) shown in the pictureS below, still cannot believe it is the same girl they knew years back in University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Many still shudder that the girl that seemed normal then is the same woman that is now known as one of the most dangerous human trafficker and sex-slave owners and a certified international criminal, now on the run.
But none who knew her would ever mistake that husky and menacing voice on the videotapes taunting and controlling nude Nigerian girls and threatening she would release those videos to the world if the girls were ever to "misbehave".
For the Madam, misbehaviour occurs if the girls she had placed in prostitution bondage were to try to regain their freedom from her dominion, which was what precisely happened.
Esther Otubo, the Madam, maintains an apartment at Building 68 room 202, Street 5, Discovery Garden, Marina, Dubai. In that apartment, she keeps at least 5 girls that she had trafficked from the country of Nigeria to Dubai. (She has 5 other girls elsewhere in the middle east). These girls range in ages between 16 and 22. There were sourced in Nigeria by Madam's agent in Nigeria.
The body of a teenage girl is considered "high yield" in sex trade. Such body can withstand the pressure and battering, and with average of 15 men per day, the teenager can gross over $2000 per day on a good day. Besides, teenagers do not fall sick as often as older girls. Also, teenagers do not have the kind of financial pressures that cause older girls to cheat or "steal" from the Madam. For instance, a 17-year old girl does not have as much pressure to send money home to her parents or to her younger ones in Nigeria.
Furthermore, teenagers do not get attached easily to men they meet. So, they are likely to stay in the business without running away with men because they are not under as much pressure to get attached or to marry. Equally, a common problem among older girls is that they want to settle down and get married. The more a girl wants to settle down in a marriage and have a family of her own, the more her interest in the prostitution business declines. However, teenagers do not have such problem. They can work for 3 to 5 straight years before they would even think of marriage. That is why they are classified as "high yield" or "super grade".
Madam Esther "Nicole" Otubo and her agents in Nigeria carefully select the girls - young, impressionable and struggling. When the agent has identified a girl, she will approach her and befriend her. She will send her gifts. The girl becomes comfortable and trusting of the agent. The girl quickly begins to address the agent as "Aunty". Meanwhile the agent sends the picture of the girl to Otubo in Dubai for her to confirm it was a good pick. When Madam gives her consent, she sends some money to the agent. The agent then opens a line of discussion on how to help the girl improve her life overseas.
The agent uses many different approaches. If this is a girl who has not been previously involved in being with men for money, she is referred to in the industry as a "greenhorn". If the agent knows that the girl is already hanging around hotels for men for a good time in exchange for money in Nigeria, she is referred to as a "tested".
It is risky to tell a greenhorn directly that the business overseas is prostitution. She may get scared and develop cold feet. So, it is better to tell a greenhorn that there is a job for her in Dubai, either as a maid or a cleaner or a waiter in a restaurant. That will entice her because she would not suspect anything abnormal and even her parents would support her journey to Dubai. If it is a tested, the agent, can simply tell her that she would meet better and richer and more generous men in Dubai and they pay in dollars.
Whether a greenhorn or a tested, the agent and Madam still deceive the girls. The deception occurs on how much the "Sponsor" is paying to sponsor the trip, which the girl must pay back. At this point, the agent refers to the Madam as the Sponsor. It is clear from the beginning that the girls must pay back the amount the Sponsor spent in bringing her over. This amount is usually fixed at between $10,000 and $15,000. To make sure the girl would pay back the Sponsor, the agent takes the girl to a shrine or native doctor for her to swear an oath. And these girls really believe in that oath. Because the parents truly believed that daughter was going overseas for work, the parents have no problem in participating in the oath-takign or swearing.
Then, the girl is prepared for the journey to Dubai. The moment she boards the plane, the work of the agent is completed. The agent hardly gets involved with that girl again. From the moment the girl arrives in Dubai, the Madam is there at the airport to receive her. The girl would meet a "kind", "nice", a mature lady who apparently knows everything and who has visible authority and bearing around her. The girl is driven to the apartment of the Madam, where she immediately meets the other girls.
Within two days after arriving, the Madam calls the girl for briefing. The girl is informed that in addition to the $15,000 she agreed to pay, Madam incurred additional expenses making the total amount spent on the girl now up to $30,000 and the girl must agree to pay. The girl agrees, after all, she believes she would make a lot of money. To make sure the girl does not change her mind later and refuse to pay, the Madam videotapes the girl nude. In some cases, the girls are actually asked to spread their legs in front of the camera and admit they are prostitutes and they would pay. At that moment, the girl has fully become a slave. She has nowhere to go. She is usually too young to understand that she should just go to the nearest police station and seek to return home. She is scared of both the oath she took in Nigeria and the video that would be shared with the world. She is now a perfect slave. She believes that her presence in Dubai may be country to law, and she would dare not go the authorities.
As the girls work, they make returns each night to the Madam. Indeed, the girls go out at night and come back around 3am or 6am. Madam stays awake between those hours to collect the money from each girl as she comes into the apartment. The girls are not allowed to open a bank account. So, there is no possibility of cheating the Madam because all your things are in her apartment.
WHAT WENT WRONG THIS TIME?
The use of videotape for control is widespread, not only among the Nigerian Madams in Dubai, but other operators in the industry. It is a weapon fashioned on the human sentiment of fear. First the girl is afraid of dying of the oath (The oath factor is almost unique to Nigerians in the business). However shaming a person through a highly compromised video clip is a widespread practice in the industry, used even by the notorious Russian mafia or the Italian gangs all active in the industry.
In the instant case, Madam Esther got into difficulties with three of her girls. Surprisingly, the reason the girls ran away was not over money. They were all complaining that the Madam was cheating them by always denying that she received the amount she already received. (By the way, there is no reliable accounting or record-keeping because payment is done strictly in cash).
Also, Madam adopted other methods for cheating the girls. When a girl has come close to paying the inflated amount of sponsorship, the Madam resorts to what is called in the industry "direct capture". This is a process under which the Madam arranges with the man and collects the money from the man directly. The girl is then sent to the man or the man comes to a place where the girl is and have sex with the girl. Because the man already paid Madam, he is not bound to pay the girl anything, except a tip, if he likes. Now, there is a problem on how to treat the money that Madam collects directly from the man. They girls believe that such money should be part of their payment to the Madam. But often Madam does not account for such money, and she always lies as to how much she was paid by the man. She may collect $200 and claim she only collected $50. The girls were helpless over this. They just can't wait to finish paying in order for them to regain their freedom.
But Madam Esther's greatest problem is that she drinks a lot and she is very physically abusive. She beats the girls and inflicts serious injuries on them. One of the girls I spoke with told me she uses knife to slash her face. She told me she ran away not because of money but because Madam assaulted her and threatened to kill her with a knife. She told me that Madam had agreed she had already paid $28,000 out of the $30,000. So, her reason for running was not over money.
Madam Esther is reputed to be a wicked woman. The girls I spoke to were all happy and praying that this investigation would bring the Madam down. They all want her to go to jail. But there is a big catch here. The girls understand that an aggressive move against Esther might force the authorities to deport both Esther and all the girls. And the girls do not want to be deported. This is actually the dilemma I face now. That is why I am preparing to pursue Esther in Nigeria, if not in Dubai. Esther's brother in Nigeria is involved in this business. She sends money to him in Nigeria for various projects, including a hotel project. So, that is a clear case of money laundering, which gives the police and the EFCC the power to arrest and prosecute her brother and to wait for her to come back.
As at the moment, these girls that appeared on video are terrified and traumatised. They are too embarrassed to come out. They immediately withdrew from the social media. Esther made sure she sent the videos to the families of the girls in Nigeria. In one of the cases, she sent the video to the boyfriend of one of the girls,
Madam Esther is currently on the run. She has been informed that we are after her, that we are trying to get her arrested. She has also withdrawn from the social media and disconnected all her known telephones and moved out of her apartment. She is basically on the run at this moment.
Kindly share this woman needs to be caught and deserves to be in Jail.
Source: The Due Process Advocates (DPA)
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