by Simon Utsu
I was extremely appalled when I read earlier today what transpired a couple of nights ago at Quilox night club between star musician, Oritse Femi and the club’s security/management team. Why should bouncers descend on a customer after embarrassing him and provoking him to react the way he did? I read grapevine accounts of what transpired and was able to interpolate my conclusion in support of Oritse Femi.
I mean, it’s cases like this that make me question why people still patronise Night clubs especially those on Victoria Island in Lagos. I think that it’s also not out of place if I opine that the Lagos night circuit is overrated! Why must a night club be opened with the sole aim of embarrassing their guests? This isn’t the first or second or even third time such a controversy involving Quilox vs celebs is happening in the last couple of years. Last year it was Wizkid fighting a fellow musician inside the VIP with the club’s security team cheering on. Year before last; it was rapper MI being kicked out of the VIP with no tangible reasons given, and now this.
I suggest that ‘ordinary citizens’ and celebs alike should start boycotting Island clubs like Sip, Auto lounge and Quilox which parade notorious and crude security personnel who call themselves bouncers but in the real sense, are pumped up steroid-taking, low-lifers who suffer severe bouts of inferiority complex every now and then.
The last time I hit the notorious Victoria Island club circuit was a couple of years back and coincidentally, I ended the night at Quilox. The bouncers acted like gods in their little world. It was relatively peaceful inside, devoid of drama, save for an instance when a well-built customer got into a rowdy fight with the bouncers who were not letting him into the VIP. This wasn’t the case at Sip lounge earlier on, where a very bitter scuffle ensued between bouncers and an aggrieved customer who was crudely shoved aside whilst trying to get in. As usual, the throngs of ‘tush’ people literally begging to be let in that night invoked the god complex in the bouncers and they started acting ‘anyhow’. The fight was an unpleasant sight to behold- I and my friends had to leave the place, that’s how we ended up at Quilox.
That night at Quilox didn’t end too well for me either, as an annoying and clumsy customer sleeping on a perch above where I was seated, fell, like humpty dumpty on top of me. I was startled as much as I was baffled. Mr clumsy dumpty simply got up and cackled a goofy “sorry sir” at me. I could see he was still dazed, so I didn’t even answer him. A year before that, I and a friend who just got in from America, equipped with a nice Texan accent and a cool car were prevented from getting into Auto lounge by their arrogantly polite bouncers. My friend in his American accent goes like this: can we see what’s happening inside and bouncer 1 goes like this: No, you can’t, tonight is only for exclusive customers. And I say in my own Americanised Obudu-Calabar accent: what the hell! Do we have to beg before we spend our hard earned money? Gaddem!
I think Quilox’s proprietor Shina Peller suffers from the same ‘failure’ complex Headies proprietor, Ayo Animashaun suffers from. Me thinks both these guys aspired to be actors or musicians at some point in their lives- they failed in that but were eventually able to make a name for themselves in other aspects of the entertainment industry. This might be the reason why their brands keep having run-ins with top musicians and actors.
On a final note, over the last few years, I’ve discovered that a night with the Lord is much better than one with friends in the club. I’ll rather attend a church prayer vigil or stay up to pray than perambulate round Nigerian clubs at night. In fact; the annual “The Experience” Gospel concert comes up on Friday 2nd December this year. For consecutive years running, it has attracted record numbers of congregants. I would advise Lagos night crawlers to cancel their club engagements and instead, head to TBS for this concert on Friday December the 2nd. It would definitely be a night to remember.
Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
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