Amidst Nigeria?s harsh economic realities, an alarming number of youths have turned to selling explicit contents on various online platforms, often disregarding the far-reaching consequences of their actions on their lives, reputation, and mental well-being, writes VICTOR AYENI

Earlier this month, social media buzzed with a flurry of shocking video clips featuring a senior Equatorial Guinean official, Balthazar Engonga, engaging in intimate encounters with multiple women.

The videos, filmed in various locations including his office, left viewers stunned.

Just as the scandalous footage of Engonga was sending ripples through the digital world, a new, equally provocative storm began to brew in Nigeria?s online sphere.

The spotlight quickly shifted to Ivie Aigbedion, a woman also known by her provocative nickname -Yahweh?s Rare Unique Masterpiece.

Nude photos and explicit videos of Aigbedion began circulating rapidly, flooding timelines, and quickly rivalling the attention garnered by Engonga?s explicit videos.

Aigbedion, who had already gained a reputation for posting semi-nude pictures?often tagging Nigerian music sensation Ayodeji Balogun, aka Wizkid?was no stranger to controversy.

Over time, to cater to the high demand from men willing to pay premium prices for her ?rare and unique? nude content, Aigbedion set up a Snapchat account, where she offered explicit photos and videos to paying subscribers.

It was learnt that earlier this month, some of her fans who wanted to break the exclusivity, downloaded explicit content from her private Snapchat story and shared them in a Telegram group named Naija Leaks (Sinners Hub).

Within 24 hours, Aigbedion?s photos and videos had circulated widely across Telegram groups known for sharing leaked explicit content, as well as on X.com.

When some of her followers on X tagged her in videos from her private snap, Aigbedion responded, ?Please don?t send me posts like this or tag me in them. I have no interest in it.?

Adding a proverbial fuel to the already burning flame of passion, the next day, the adult content creator began posting the ?leaked? explicit photos and videos from her account on X.com.

For over three days, ?Yahweh? became a top trending term on X.com in Nigeria, drawing a flood of intrigued and curious users eager to catch a glimpse of Aigbedion?s oiled body.

While a horde of male fans on X lapped up Aigbedion?s explicit content like thirsty German Shepherds, checks by our correspondent showed that her Facebook account where she sells her organic skincare mixtures maintained a morally ?clean? photo album.

None of her nude photos made it to the social networking platform with over three billion users, owing to its strict censorship policies, which bar nude photos, obscene posts, and content depicting sexual acts.

Conversely, on X.com, users are allowed to ?share consensually produced and distributed adult nudity or sexual behaviour, provided it?s properly labelled and not prominently displayed,? according to a statement published in May.

?It?s far easier for me to post thirst traps on X than elsewhere,? a tech advisor and nudist, who gave his name simply as Dewumi, confessed to Saturday PUNCH.

?On Facebook and Instagram, I maintain my good-boy image, but I have a burner account on X where I post my traps, and my DM is always full when I do so.?

Adult merchandise

In multiple photos and videos shared by Aigbedion and viewed by Saturday PUNCH, she appears in a nursing uniform in one scene, while in others, she reveals her breasts and private parts in close-up shots. Two other videos recorded against a dimly lit background captured her as she oiled up her body and engaged in self-pleasuring.

Responding to an X user who criticised her decision to post explicit content, the nudist wrote, ?You can?t shame me, baby. The person who paid for my subscription and leaked the videos for free for y?all to see? They are the real morons.

?My DM has been buzzing since yesterday. Do you know how many men wanna see more of my drip clips??

With a touch of sarcasm, an X user, The Cook, responded to her that the men who initially released her nudes were not morons as she thought them to be.

?You?re making money from the men patronising you, and the men patronising you are also making money from your videos by leaking them to Telegram channel owners who are also making N5,000 per subscriber, by the way. Everyone?s winning. Isn?t Yahweh great?? he said.

As her explicit photos and videos gained widespread attention, Aigbedion adjusted her Snapchat subscription rates and encouraged more enthusiasts eager for more ?visions of paradise? to subscribe to her private videos.

First created in 2011, Snapchat is a multimedia instant messaging app that many people use to make money by selling photos or videos of themselves. These photos or short videos ? snaps ? can be directed privately to selected contacts, or a semi-public ?Story? or a public ?Story.?

Account owners can subscribe to Premium Snapchat Accounts, through which they offer exclusive content to subscribers for a monthly fee.

Snapchat?s guidelines and terms of usage state that it prohibits ?promoting, distributing, or sharing pornographic content,? including commercial activities geared toward the same.

However, it generally permits ?depictions of nudity in non-sexual contexts,? a clause that has provided leeway for many adult models to use the platform to generate significant revenue by tapping into the high demand for explicit content.

Attracting praise and ridicule

Following the release of her nude content on X.com, Saturday PUNCH gathered that Yahweh?s Masterpiece gained more than 20,000 new followers, mostly men.

?Someone called my mum from the United Kingdom and told her she saw me fingering myself online,? Aigbedion disclosed in a tweet on Wednesday.

In her replies, many commenters praised her for her feat, while others criticised her for daring to put her unclad body out in the market square of the Internet like salt and pepper.

Having heard of the new temptress seemingly set to lead the faithful astray, some users on X flocked to Aigbedion?s account, where they proclaimed divine judgment upon her ? though only after indulging their curious eyes on her oiled form.

?Stop that!? Aigbedion cautioned a fan, perhaps shocked by the vulgar comparison he made with her Yahweh nickname ? an affiliation that many of the Jewish and Christian faiths would consider blasphemous.

?I?m sorry my queen, I misspoke,? the X user later apologised, ?It won?t happen again. But you are a goddess and I?m ready to dedicate my future to serve and worship you and you alone.?

Another netizen, Campell David, wrote, ?Keep your head up, champion. You are a rising star, don?t stop doing what you love.?

On the other side of the divide, however, were Christians who strongly objected to Aigbedion?s appropriation of the name ?Yahweh? to sell her explicit content.

?I get really angry when people, especially Christians, refer to that girl who posts raunchy content and her nudity as ?Yahweh.? This is the name of God, like ?Jehovah.? It?s the covenant name of the God of Israel, please let?s stop it,? Ademola, an X user, warned.

Expressing a more cynical view of the nudist, Mazi Nathan criticised men, whom he described as having a ?saviour complex,? who would be deluded to the point of marrying Aigbedion, whom he described as ?public property,? in the nearest future.

?Understand this: girls like Yahweh do not ever intend to someday marry and have kids ? which is perfectly fine. They?re very much comfortable selling their nudity and basking in the euphoric attention of prostituting themselves,? he added.

More nudists emerge

Perhaps threatened by the emergence of ?Yahweh?s Rare Unique Masterpiece,? some other nudists, who had been in the shadows quickly stepped out to reclaim their waning digital spotlight.

Within a span of six days, four popular nudists on X.com?The Silly Lost Poet, Persephone, Hydonni, and Grace (also known as Ada of London)?released a flurry of raunchy photos and videos that made many men weak at the knees.

Our correspondent learned that while Yahweh?s Masterpiece?s monthly subscription for viewers was N200,000, the average monthly subscription charged by the other four nude models was N50,000.

Narrating how she became an adult content creator in a TikTok video seen by Saturday PUNCH, Silly Lost Poet, whose name is Amaka, explained that she started out by privately taking explicit photos of herself until one of her male friends, an adult star, requested to promote her.

Urging her to promote her nudes privately on Snapchat, the adult performer informed Amaka of the prices she should charge in exchange for making her fans drool at their screens.

?He told me that I?d make a lot of money because the pictures I used to take at that time and the videos I used to make were very fine, and the thirst traps were very fine. I started, and my life changed. I was booming and making a lot of money,? she said, giggling.

However, Amaka pointed out that not everyone was happy with the money she raked in, and they reported her snaps.

?I started to lose snaps and, you know, when you lose your snaps, you have to get another phone. That?s you spending lots of money again because you can?t use the same SIM card for Snapchat,? she added.

Amaka said she was introduced to Onion Fans by her sister, and it was there she continued to make money selling her nudes.

She admitted that the journey hasn?t been smooth as she is constantly trolled by netizens, who hurl all sorts of insulting epithets at her.

?When Nigerians find out that you are doing adult content, you are serially harassed. They will say you are a bad person and call you a prostitute without knowing why you are doing it. To me, it?s one of the easiest and fastest ways to make lots of money,? Amaka added.

Confirming Amaka?s assertion, a tech expert, Abisola Olatunde, told Saturday PUNCH, ?It?s true. Selling nude photos or videos is a kind of business that doesn?t require much money or many skills, yet brings in money. You need a working camera or smartphone and a little confidence.

?But it?s just like prostitution. As long as they are offering a service and there is a demand for it, there will always be many people ready to pay to access it.

?The problem, however, is the long-term effect. What then happens when that nude content comes back to haunt the person who created it years later, threatening their home or their jobs? The internet never forgets.?

?I?m not attracted to men?

For Persephone, much of her explicit content is posted on X.com and All Access Fans, where her monthly subscription is N25,000, and her three-month subscription is N50,000 with a 10 per cent discount.

Although Persephone had been filmed performing sexual acts with men, she suggested that it was simply for the money, as her sexuality oscillates to the opposite end of the spectrum.

?I?m not attracted to men,? she told one of her male fans who inquired if she would be tying the knot one day.

The 20-year-old added, ?I?m into women, bruh, I thought I made this obvious. Like, do you not see the girl-on-girl content on my All Access page??

Another model who sells her nude and sex videos on Youfanly, Hydonni, also indicated her subscription plan on the streaming site.

Monthly subscribers will part with N52,646; bi-monthly subscribers will pay N105,293, while tri-monthly subscriptions will cost N150,042 with a five per cent discount.

Sharing a link from her site on X.com, she wrote, ?Trust that my subscribers are gonna get exclusive content from today?s shoot. You snooze, you lose.?

On her part, Abuja-based Grace shares her explicit content on Glowclub, where subscribers can consume her erotic services for N90,000 for 90 days.

Sharing a semi-nude photo of herself in a post on X, Grace quoted a portion of the Bible, saying, ?A loving doe, a graceful deer ? may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love.?

Since 2023, when X.com began paying its verified users for ad revenue as part of its extended monetisation programme, many adult content creators have leveraged the platform to share explicit content, generate engagement, and receive money.

Aside from X.com, findings by Saturday PUNCH revealed that many other user-friendly sites allow live streaming to private chats and subscription options that are utilised by those who sell their nude content.

These include OnlyFans, Fansly, Fanvue, JustForFans, Unlockd, FanCentro, ManyVids, MYM.fans, LoyalFans, BentBox, ModelHub, and xModel.

On OnlyFans ? one of the most popular subscription-based platforms globally ? adult performers are allowed to set their own prices for content. The site takes 20 per cent of their earnings, while the rest goes to the models? pockets.

This is at variance with ManyVids, an adult community where adult models post daily content for their fans. The models keep 90 per cent of their earnings in their first year and 80 per cent thereafter.

Citing the extant laws in Nigeria, an Abuja-based human rights lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, explained that the sharing of sex tapes, nudes, and pornography on media is a grievous offence punishable with severe penalties under the Cybercrimes (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2015, the Criminal Code, and the Penal Code.

He noted that Section 24 of the Cybercrimes Act 2015 stipulates that any person who knowingly or intentionally sends messages that are ?grossly offensive, pornographic, or of an indecent, obscene, or menacing character? by a computer system or otherwise will be liable to pay a fine of N7,000,000 ?or imprisonment for a term of not more than three years.?

Olajengbesi added, ?It is crystal clear that the sharing of indecent files on the internet or other related gadgets is an offence that the law frowns upon.

?Apart from the personal injury and effect on the victim, flying of the same across the internet is equally capable of causing a public nuisance, which may result in the breach of public peace if handled lackadaisically.?

Potential consequences

In a post soliciting an adult content partner, an X.com user, @Obsessedwithmytitties, stated the qualifications required for suitable candidates.

?You?ll undergo tests, be willing to have a third party in the room, have money, know how to f*ck, and know how to hold the camera for backshots,? the Lagos-based nudist wrote.

As of Thursday morning, the post had garnered over 92,000 views and 119 comments from netizens who tagged their friends whom they believed met the requirements.

Commenting on this, tech consultant, Solomon Nwadike described the push towards nudity as indicative of Nigerian youths? penchant for unhealthy means of making money.

?There are tech skills they could have spent their time and resources learning,? he told Saturday PUNCH. ?Instead of posting thirst traps and recording yourself having sex, why not learn some digital skills that will fetch you legitimate money??

Speaking further, Nwadike said that with the technological sophistication in the world today, even files saved on iCloud are increasingly getting hacked.

?Snapchat can be hacked, as can all other major sites hosting these photos, and that is how people get into scandals. You could be vying for a political position and someone brings up such content you made decades earlier because you were looking for money. It shouldn?t be encouraged,? he added.

In addition to being vilified by audiences who find their content objectionable, adult content creators are also harassed by their fans, who merely consider them to be servile, sexual objects.

For instance, in August, a woman named Pelumi took to X.com to label men as ?potential rapists? along with a screenshot of a private message she received from a male fan who made sexually suggestive remarks on her Snapchat story.

After the tweet gained attention, the accusation took a dramatic turn when multiple users began to share screenshots, alleging that Pelumi had been selling explicit photos to men online.

One user, who identified himself as Ray, shared a screenshot claiming to have paid N45,000 for her nude pictures, saying, ?I paid N45k for your nude pictures on 16 November 2023, by the way. Still got everything here.?

Joining in the fray was another popular X user, Wizarab, who alleged, ?Rapist from where to where? You sold your nude to him and he grabbed oil to finish off? What were you expecting him to use it for, you want his N45,000 to waste?

?Apparently, from the quotes, your market seems to be booming because you have plenty of clients.?

Other users joined in, accusing Pelumi of hypocrisy for painting men as potential rapists while allegedly selling adult content on Snapchat.

The backlash generated by Pelumi?s post eventually forced her to delete it.

In one of his replies to Aigbedion?s explicit photos, a user named Michael Corleone wrote, ?I read about an ex-porn star who is now married and begging people to delete her old porn videos.

?There is a time for sober reflection for past actions, and this young black woman?s own is coming.? (Saturday PUNCH)

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