So last night, I went out to meet a couple of friends at a popular club in Victoria Island, known as the Spice Route. Its a great place, with a nice atmosphere, beautiful people, and super awesome music. It was to be my second visit to the club, and I was kind of excited about going, seeing as I had just received a massive credit alert earlier that evening.
As I strolled near the entrance with a friend and my damsel in tow, I saw a man in a suit, (whom I later found out was a bouncer for Spice), and a shabbily dressed woman engaged in a shouting match and commotion. Apparently the woman was a beggar and the bouncers had been trying to evict her and her fellows who come to the front of the club with their children to beg.
Suddenly I saw the bouncer raining heavy blows on her. I was mortified. A typical club bouncer in Victoria Island is exceptionally huge and this guy was not an exception to the rule. As the blows continued to descend, I protested. I am one of those very old fashioned men who thinks it is absolute taboo to hit a woman. As I protested, the bouncers punches seemed to get heavier. I was powerless to stop him. A young man near me, who appeared like one of those hustlers who also beg club goers for money said I should stop pleading on her behalf and that it was good for her. He said, “those women get craze sef”.
I am not a psychologist or in any position to judge the mental faculties of anybody, however I did agree that some of those women I had encountered who beg with their children are a bit off the tangent and can be very persistent when they feel like they are in a place where money is flowing and could potentially flow in their direction.
Our tab last night (earlier this morning) was 78,000 paid for by about 3 or 4 friends and we are not in any way big spenders compared to most of the patrons at Spice. So those women are obviously onto something.
Spice is big on image, and right now it is the in club in Nigeria. Most clubs in Nigeria have a shelf life of about 12 to 24 months max before they expire due to patron apathy. A popular video director, Kemi Adetiba was bounced from the club once because she was not in the presence of a man when she came to party. Spice tries to keep some certain classes of people away from its doors because it believes certain types are bad for business. Kemi Adetiba is a decent, respectable, and hard working independent woman but the guys at Spice profile in a ridiculous manner and because she was alone, she was not allowed in.
A friend of mine who recently returned from Philly was pretty ticked off last night after he hollered at a female, and was told it would be $300 if he expected her to return to his lodgings that evening, so perhaps the management and bouncers of Spice Route cannot keep everybody they deem unwanted out.
However what the management can do is to give their bouncers strict instructions to not VIOLENTLY ASSAULT poor Nigerians out on the street because they came near their premises to beg. I know the woman was probably trespassing while she begged Spice patrons, but that does not justify the treatment meted out to the woman. Women are the weaker sex, if not in anything else, then in physical strength. A bouncer is a strong individual, one does not need to pummel a woman like an enraged boxer to get his point across. He could have simply restrained her, rather than resorting to blows.
When I left the club at about 2am, I saw that the police had arrived and carted the woman and other beggars into the back of their pick up truck. Probably a just punishment, since they were loitering with their babies and trespassing on other peoples property. Perhaps that call to the police should have been made hours earlier.
This is not in any way an article meant to disparage the management of the establishment that is Spice Route. But please do show some more responsibility. If those strong men at your doors and gates called bouncers can stylishly beg for money from patrons who are departing and entering the club. I personally gave N500 and saw another patron slide a doorman N1000, both times when departing. Then how much more evidence is needed to show that those unemployed wretched persons begging at the door have a reason to beg.
It is not the responsibility of Spice Route to cater to the poor and wretched in the Nigerian society. They pay their taxes to the Federal and State governments. However it is their responsibility to show a little compassion to the poor and wretched of the society who happen to be begging where they see people converged. If they do not want them presence, then hire police or have police seconded to your establishment to discourage the beggars.
Above all, it is the responsibility of every Nigerian man, and men everywhere never to violently assault a woman!!!