Three days at Nigeria's Biggest Strip Club,(Cave Bar)

Striper

Against wide spread condemnation on one side and ambivalence on the other, strip tease clubs, otherwise known as gentlemen’s clubs, still thrive and thrill Lagos residents. KAZEEM POPOOLA reports the main attractions and modus operandi of these houses of fun.
Dancing with a nude drop -dead gorgeous belle is a moment that will obviously linger on for a while in the heart of anybody who has been fantasizing about it. And when world famous singer, T-Pain, sang that he was in love with a stripper some people who could not see the imaginary art of music in T-Pain’s delivery condemned him. Interestingly, it takes those who have been to devil’s parlours, as strip clubs are referred to by some, to appreciate T-Pain. Not until Lagos State took the battle against the operator of some Strip Clubs in its Mainland that people became aware that there is another world somewhere.
Club Unique, Ocean Blue and Wall Street Pub led the pack of some coded places where gentlemen go to calm their nerves watching girls of different sizes and shapes dancing naked. Apart from the fact that most strip clubs are similar in modus operandi,capacities and kind of girls on parade distinguishes one from others. However, after the clamped down on strip clubs by the State Government, which have evidently forced some out of operation, inquisitiveness took  me  to Cave Bar, the acclaimed newest and biggest strip club in town, and here are my findings.

Cave Bar was officially opened in February last year and it sits on one acre of land. The Club Lounge has two plots of land, while its Sports Bar has one full plot and the remaining space feeds other needs.

Daytime
Cave Bar is always serene during the day, as peop

Executive Cabino

le come for shopping at any one of the three available boutiques. The sports bar is where one can settle down to have a bottle of drink and a conducive environment for football enthusiasts to watch the live matches of their favourite foreign clubs. There is little or no life inside the Cave Lounge at this hour and the girls too, are nowhere to be found. From 6pm some workers could be seen getting the lounge ready for another exclusive night and by 7pm, 

Regular Cabino

the waitresses, who are mostly beautiful girls of average heights, could be seen reporting for duty. Still there is no sight of any of the pretty faces known for the raunchy dance steps.

Night at Cave Lounge
This is the hour ‘gentlemen’ cannot afford to miss. The lounge can take more than 800 people at a time and about 50 girls can be on the dancing podium at any given time. From 9pm upward, regulars and new patrons of the club are seen taking their seats, waiting for show time. While waiting with bottle of champagne, energy drink, beer or what have you, two or three of the girls are already on the podium making sexy gestures with dance steps that are in tandem with music cascading from the high decibel musical equipment. The girls captivate men with their erotic overtures delivered in dance steps.

They hold sway on the podium displaying brazen dance steps. This is a teaser that sets the mood for the day, especially for the early callers who have waited patiently, relaxing with drinks, cigarettes or dancing. There are strict rules to checkmate the kind of people who visit the Lounge. The most interesting thing about the Cave Bar is that, apart from marrie

Club Entrance(Passage)

d couples and lovers, top celebrities and Caucasians top the list of regular callers. Fridays at the Cave, is called Freaky Fridays, while Thursdays and Saturdays are for the big-size ladies with arresting backside.

Cabinos
There are numerous, and they are for the guests who want quick sex. Cabinos are of two types, regular and exclusive, where one can go in to have a quiet moment with one’s woman. The exclusive cabinos, which are replete with all the comfort of private moment, are rented for N50,000, while others go for N30,000.

The strippers
These are beautiful damsels with clean skin, who could easily win beauty pageants. They are mostly professionals from Togo, Ghana, South Africa and other African countries. It is about taking one’s choice as they are of various sizes, heights and shapes. And just in case of diseases, Saturday Mirror reliably gathered that the management of the club carries out regular screening on the girls. While some of them speak faulty English. However most of them are good in Yoruba, English and other Nigerian languages, putting people at the crossroad about the girls’ nationalities. Aside stripping to entertain scores of fun-seekers, men and women of various ages, the strippers

Bar

 are very good in doing things that can always confound one’s imagination.

Show Time
This is around 10pm upward and there is Becky (not real name), fair in complexion, average height belle, who controls and monitors the girls. She and others of her official status are simply called coordinators. They are in smart looking wears, walking around briskly and clutching walkie-talkies. There is another girl whose responsibility is to register and collect the money made by the girls from the popular ‘lap dance’. However, no camera is allowed. Heavily built bouncers 

The boutique at Cave Bar

move around to checkmate those who could be recording secretly with camera phones.


The number of girls on the podium grows with the size of the guests in the lounge, who watch the girls while they are on the podium mesmerizing, as they ply their stuff and pulling off scanty clothing in bits. After some more suggestive dances, the ladies lowered their frame on the podium and their practised fingers began caressing their bodies. They do some turns and twists with the pole of the podium, and then spread their legs like the pages of a book as they begin to pull at their clitoris, causing sizzling sensation of a sort. As a result, some of the girls are signalled for lap dance by some of the guests, while excited ones could also be seen dashing quickly to the podium to have a raunchy dance with the girls. Another interesting aspect of the show is that, hardly do the girls repeat the same pants and bras all the night. There are other girls who assist Becky in picking up the pulled off pants and bras at the end of each lap dance.

Lap Dance
This is one major reason why regular pub crawlers prefer strip clubs to others. This involves girls sitting astride men in a mock sex. This is not for free, as price for a session of lap dance starts from one thousand naira upward, and if the pay is right, some girls allow the caressing of their boobs and private parts. No sex in the lounge rules are sometime violated by some customers who are carried away by the girls’ sensuous moves, and want to avoid the highly expensive cabinos meant for the act. They settle for N5,000 or more to have a quickie on their seats. This unacceptable act, which attracts suspension to any offender caught in the act, is mostly done by some guests at the back row, who are always handy with condoms.
Although, some sections of the society frown at operation of strip clubs base on moral perspective. More engaging perhaps, is whether the gentlemen’s clubs, as they are fondly called, are operating legally, is another question on the minds of other. Reacting to the lifted ban and legality of Strip Clubs in Lagos, Mr. Shina Eddo, proprietor of the Cave Bar said: “After the problem with the state government two years ago, the House of Assembly deliberated on the matter and eventually ordered the reopening of all the shut strip bars. “Operating a strip club is not illegal; there are strip clubs all over the world.
What you got to do is to make sure that access is denied minors and you don’t operate in residential area. If you have mature people as your guests and pay your tax as at when due, you are in the business. We have been given permission to operate, and strip clubs have been 





Passage of the Cabinos

legalised in Lagos, thanks to members of House of Assembly and the state governor for the initiative.” Popular lawyer Fred Agbaje also added: “What makes strip clubs illegal? Everybody has freedom to associate so far it’s not in contrary to the rule of law. Everybody has the right to come together to form association. it’s not illegal.”

Podium

Latest on Oby Edozieh’s marriage to Alex O

...... Fathima Aboobaker is a two-faced woman- Uzor, Alex O's brother.

 While Some popular entertainment blogs and websites are agog with different claims of Alex O’s alleged Ex-wife, Fathima Aboobaker,  over the popular singer’s recent marriage to Nollywood star actress, Oby Edosieh, some interesting facts are begin to emerge!

With the latest information at our disposal by Uzor, Alex O brother, describing Fathima Aboobaker as a two faced woman, is not a mistake.

 While Fathima has  going public with her statements and allegations, it may Interest you to know that she has been apologizing to Alex O privately, through emails, phone calls and text messages.

 One begins to wonder if her recent utterances are credible. Moreover, the marriage certificate, which she is currently circulating online, has some information blanked out.

Confirming this during an exclusive chart, Uzo said, “She said my brother changed his name, but the so called marriage certificate that she uploaded still bears my brother's full and correct name. His passport and other documents are still the same. Funny how people believe obvious lies.

Marriage certificate provided by Fathima

“During the divorce negotiations, Alex offered to take their daughter to Nigeria. Fathima preferred she stays with her until she is old enough to travel and visit him. She said that Alex will have unrestricted access any time he wants to see her. All these, together with the financial settlements were amicably agreed to, and entered into the divorce papers they both signed. So, for her to now accuse Alex of abandoning his daughter is ridiculous.

On the issue of religion, Alex was born a Catholic and has always remained same, She and her family tried to get him to be part of their religion but that was not possible. This issue is also part of the reasons for their break up. This false claim, is equally one of her threats to tarnish my brother's name so, people should expect more of her false allegations.”

 Speaking further on the financial issues,  Uzor indicated that Alex and Fathima had always supported each other. “When they met in Singapore, she was not working and Alex supported not only her, but also helped with some of her family's problems.  They both were open about their finances, until he discovered how extravagant she was with money, smoked a lot, drank a lot of alchohol and several times cheated on him. Alex kept most of his financial dealings away from her. She has no idea of most of the projects he did, or what funds he has in accounts outside South Africa till date,” Uzo revealed.

We scooped that Alex never introduced her to any member of his family because he was already fed up and had made up his mind to leave, even before he met Oby.
More so, we reliably informed that Fathima Aboobaker has a shameful drug past. An alleged addict that was gathered to have been luckily rescued from her.
According to Alex's brother, “life is too short to be in an unhappy relationship for too long. My brother was so unhappy in that marriage, he had to file for a divorce. They both signed all the documents. She has also changed back to her father's name, even on her Facebook, email accounts and other social network platforms, so why all these rants and cheap publicity on the web.

“My brother is too busy to let all her nonsense distracts him from what he is doing. He has set up his studio in Lagos and has already started working on his new album, two movies he is directing and signing on the younger, up and coming artistes who are in need of opportunities for break through.

“Why is she calling Oby sugar mummy? Oby is about 6 years younger than her. She is a hardworking lady. My brother is equally hard working and even has more money and resources than Oby. He has one of the best voices in the world, and has made his name both locally and internationally. He is a great writer so, what is Oby going to help him with, teach him how to sing, produce or direct?

When I see both of them I see true love and I see somebody who loves, cares and respects my brother and this is why the entire family is in full support of their marriage,” Uzor concluded. 

Interestingly, we are opportune to have a copy of an email which Fathima sent to beg Alex O(Please read her email below).

Fathima and Alex

Forwarded message ----------
From: Fathima
Date: Monday, 26 December 2011
Subject: Hello
To: mailbox81@gmail.com

Hello

I just wanted to tell you after talking to my family and my friend who has been divorced, I can't change what has happened and I was very angry. I am sorry I lashed out at you  and said ugly things. But I guess I have to go on with my life, and revisiting the past is not going to help. I also am keeping my cellphone number available to u if u want to get into contact with lay. My issues with you should not impact on her and I do want the best for her.

My mum told me that we could not have misjudged you to that degree, and that she knows u are a good man, maybe u felt compelled to make the decisions you made, and I do acknowledge that you always have been good to me, its just in the past year that we have stopped communicating with each other.
My brothers feel the same. We all agree u could have handled it better. what is done is done ! I am calmer now being with my family. They hold no animosity towards you, and I have to admit I have no emotional ties to you. I just want to live the life ahead of me. I am blessed to have all I do have in my life, and I am going to do all the things I have always wanted to.

What’s Susan Peters up to?

The sassy screen beau did enjoy a successful run in 2011. Aside picking a couple of awards for the few movies which she featured in, Susan Peters could be best described as one on the big revelations of 2011. With her recent sexy promotional pictures online, the rising star actress is really leaving no stone unturned to up her game in 2012. While SS reliably gathered that the hot shots are for her website, which is still under construction, nosy foes are said to be criticizing some of her poses. While her numerous fans are impatiently waiting for www.susanpetersonline to start full operation, the gifted actress has been drumming it into the ears of many that her decision to own a website is to give people the opportunity to get first hand information about her and probably feed their eyes with her exclusive pictures.

About Timaya’s disappointing outing

Talking about the list of Nigerian music stars with egos, the Igbera Papa 1 of Bayelsa, Timaya, will definitely take a comfortable position. Although, some people may not be able to stand Timaya, the acclaimed Plantain Boy got things working for him on the Nigerian music scene.
However, if the gist at SS’ disposal is anything to go by, Timaya owes his numerous fans as well as one of the DJs at the last Rhythm Unplugged an apology. SS reliably gathered that Timaya was in one of his mean moods at the well attended music concert that was held on December 23, 2011 at Ocean View, Victoria Island, Lagos. The dreadlock wearing artiste was said to have been called on stage to perform. He was alleged to have left the stage in anger calling the DJ unprintable names. However, what transpired between him and the DJ is still very sketchy. While the attitude exhibited by Timaya did not take away the fun, frills and thrills of the upwardly mobile yearly music concert, most of the crowd who were soaked in enjoyment were said to have been disappointed about the artiste’s rude behaviour.

ID Cabasa becomes Church minister

Although, not much was written or read about the ace music producer, Olumide Ogunade a.k.a ID Cabasa, last year, SS can authoritatively reveal that the suave looking beat merchant cum singer has been busy serving in the Lord’s vineyard.
Cabasa, alongside nine other members of Global Impact Church was recognised for his service to the ministry and rewarded for his impact in the church. The father of two was also ordained as a minister in the church. While fans and friends continue pouring encomiums on Cabasa for the new phase of his life, whether the gifted producer of secular music will give all up for God, is now the question on the lips of his many followers.

Charly Boy, Dino Melaye, close ranks on removal of subsidy

As the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy bites harder, it may interest you to know that the raging crises has put Charles Oputa, the maverick showbiz personality popularly known as Charly Boy and a former of House of Representatives member, Dino Manaye, in the same camp. You will recall that Dino was arrested for leading thousands of other Abuja residents to protest the removal of subsidy.
But on that day, Charly Boy was said to have taken his own battle to the filling stations, trying to feel the pulse of the people. Interestingly, the gist at SS disposal has it that Dino and Area Fada are neither friends nor have their paths crossed in the past, but a telephone call to alert the former about the latter’s arrest over the protest, has become a talk of the town. A bird in the know squealed that Charly Boy took a lead in the effort to get Dino and other dignitaries, who were arrested out of detention, though, SS gathered that it took a whole day before they could be released. While it’s not yet clear if Charly Boy and Dino will be fashioning out another phase of the protest, the former has been quoted saying that “ removal of subsidy is bad timing, insensitive and the government did not show empathy on people they have chose to lead. “The backlash of this is more violence and crime. Government should think about how they communicate, it’s obvious that nobody trusts the government; there is a big gap between the masses and the government. Nobody believes in any government agent coming to give them anything. We have an exclusive situation on our hands and the only way it won’t spill out of control is for government to be more sensitive.”

Subsidy Removal Tears Nigerian Entertainment Industry Apart!... Celebrities reacct!



Seun, Dede Mabiaku and Banky W during the protest



Removal of fuel subsidy has evidently becomes a New Year gift, which Nigerians will never wish for. As it now a week ago since the Federal Government made the pronouncement that had seen the fuel pump price  sky rocketed, few top showbiz personalities had not only hit the streets to vent their anger, many have been tackling each other on social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

Seun Kuti, Banky W, Dede Mabiaku, Zdon Paporella were among the popular entertainers who led Lagos State’s peaceful protest against the removal of fuel subsidy on Tuesday January 3, 2012. It may, however, interest you to know that top filmmakers gathered last on December 30, 2011 at the town hall meeting held at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, it was said to have been caused by Mr. Oronto Douglas, the Special Adviser to the President on Research and Strategy to woo the movie practitioners for the deregulation process which also include removal of fuel subsidy.

Conversely, there is a news milling around about the emergence of another parallel body to counter the meeting. While most of the participants at the meeting attended by Zack Orji, Ifeanyi Dike, Felix Duker, Ziki Zulu Okafor, Zeb Ejiro, Monalisa Chinda, Rita Dominic, Charles Novia, among many others have refused to react to the current removal of subsidy that is rocking the nation, some celebrities speak their minds.

Seun Kuti– “Thi

Funsho Adeolu: “We are faced with a governmental system that portrays flexibility but rigid in practice. People should be informed why the subsidy should be removed and the benefits it will bring as against a different option. Like other sectors, the effect will be unfavourable because the market demand and cast fee will be reduced, and cost of production will be high.”

Shan George: “It’s going to have an enormous damage on every industry not just entertainment in a country where 80 percent of electricity is provided by personal generating set. People would certainly have a thousand reasons not to bother about being entertained; most especially those without light to even watch TV. It’s a real disaster! Whoever advised the president on this has really goofed. I will suggest that the power in government should come out and address Nigerians because people have displayed a lot of civility ov
Dede Mabiaku: “It’s a shame. Why give Nigerians this kind of punishment instead of a present for the first day of the year? For crying out loud, we all know how many cars the entire top office holders are using but yet they are complaining of wastage. Let them search inward, we know how much they waste on the executives, presidency spends more than one million naira a day on food, how, wetin him wan chop? “If we base the effect on one sector, we are doing injustice to the entire Nigeriandom; it’s going to affect every sphere of our lives. If the big men say it will not to affect them because they can afford it, people who work for them will suffer. On the long run, they will also suffer because service, productivity will be hindered and there would be no security anymore because you cannot hold a man who is hungry because a lot of the people are going to go hungrier. I am tired of the executives and legislators, let them be realistic and face what Nigeria is supposed to represent. Let it be a county for all not for a few. They have made the country autocratic, this is heartlessly wicked.”



Zdon

er this issue by having very peaceful protests. Government should seize this chance and show Nigerians why all this is happening”

Monalisa Chinda and Fidelis Duker at Deregulation meeting

s has effect on all the industries in Nigeria and even on the personal lives of the people. We as Nigerians cannot be asked to pay for our government’s shortcomings while they increase their perks in office. If there is to be financial sacrifice let the rich make it. We are made to believe they are tired of paying a few of their friends all this money and we don’t want to be the ones to pay it either.”

Fe

Abbey Lanra

lix Duker- “What we went for to me was a town hall meeting organised to get details and information from the government on deregulation. I never supported the immediate removal of s

Shan George

ubsidy because of the untold hardship Nigerians will go through; rather I advised that there was a need for deregulation of the downstream because the cabal as claimed by government must be stopped. “Deregulation was done in broadcasting, aviation and communication which has made the aforementioned sector more vibrant. I do not support the removal of fuel subsidy when there are no palliatives in place. It will definitely be difficult for the country which the entertainment is a part.”


Funsho Adeolu


Abbey Lanre (Ace movie director)– “Everybody knows the bad effect it will have on the people. Everybody will suffer for it, cost of living will be on the high side and once it affects individuals, it will affect cost of movie production and patronage. Entertainment industry will suffer more because it’s only when you are comfortable that you will be thinking of going to the cinemas, buy movies, attend musical and comedy shows, among others. This is not good for this country. Our leaders are selfish and wicked,”

Monalisa Chinda: “No! The removal should not be reversed but the implementation should be done in phases of 50 percent  increment rather than the 200 that was done on the 1st of January. And as that is being effected, the nation’s refineries should be immediately revamped to optimum level of production to make the ripple effect of the subsidy minimal on the masses.”

Zdon Paporella- “I have nothing against the fuel subsidy removal but I think certain palliatives should have been put in place to cushion the adverse effect it will have on the masses. The entertainment industry will witness low patronage of its products and services. Travelling on long distances will be avoided due to increase in the transport fare, putting up events will be more expensive, cost of studio session and production will be high. The situation might have been different if there were constant power supply. This is bad timing for this policy, it’s sad and shameful.”