33 Nude Dancers Arrested After Raid By Task Force

Story/Pix by Simon Ateba, Kazeem Ugbodaga & Paul Sanusi of PM News

Following the expose of the nefarious activities at Lagos nude clubs, where young ladies dance stark naked and practice live sex on stage to entertain their patrons, the state government has wielded the big stick by shutting them down.

The Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Monitoring Unit which raided the four strip clubs on the Opebi-Allen axis of Ikeja also arrested 33 naked dancers and two of the clubs’ managers.

The four nude clubs are Club Unique, Wallstreet, Cazzbah and Magic City formerly known as Ocean Blue.

Club Unique is on Ogundana Street off Allen Avenue while Wallstreet is located at 70B Allen Avenue. Magic City, formerly called Ocean Blue, is located adjacent to Sweet Sensation Bus Stop and Cazzbah is adjacent to Opebi Bus Stop.



•Some of the strip dancers arrested during the raid.

P.M.News gathered that before the raids on the clubs were carried out, some task force officials had visited the clubs disguised as patrons. They monitored the clubs’activities for a night before raiding them in the wee hours of the following day.

Chairman, Lagos State Environmental Taskforce, Mr. Bayo Sulaiman, told P.M.News that the state government shut the clubs as a result of public outcry over their existence.

Sulaiman added that most of the clubs had become hideouts for criminals and undesirable elements.
He stressed that the strip clubs were not registered and were not regulated.

Immediately the report over the activities of the nude clubs was published, the Archbishop of Lagos State, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, lamented that evil has completely taken over Lagos and called on Governor Babatunde Fashola to act immediately to arrest the trend by shutting them down.

“Evil has taken over in Lagos State. The way things are going, when girls of between the ages of 15 and 25 dance nude and throw caution to the wind with boys and men watching them, then they are sending a wrong signal to the society. It portends danger. We are sitting on a loaded gun,” said Okogie, in a statement signed by the Director of Social Communications, Lagos State, Reverend Gabriel Osu.

Okogie called on Fashola to act now because the strip clubs are on the increase, while those shut earlier had re-opened with impunity and with a change of name.

“I hope this is not making mockery of Lagos as mega-city, Centre of Excellence and City of Aquatic Splendour,” he said.
While some Lagosians called on the state government not to shut the strip clubs but simply regulate them as adult fun exists in all mega cities, most people kicked against their existence and simply called on Governor Fashola to close them down.

P.M.News learnt that the arrest of strip dancers was dramatic as they did not expect the taskforce visit them in the night.

A 24-year Ghanaian lady,Traore Anida, who was among the strippers arrested during the busting of the club, said she started the job a month ago because she was desperately in need of fund to go back to her country.
She said that she was brought to Nigeria by a woman whom she said is based in the Republic of Benin.
“I need money to go back to my country and there is no other work I can do to get the money fast. That is why I joined the job,” Anida stated.

Emma Ofor, manager of Club Unique who was arrested along with the 33 strippers, said that he joined the club in January this year, adding that poverty made him to accept the offer. Offor said that he could not reject the offer as he was in desperate need of a job.

“That is the circumstance I found myself and it is because of my situation. I was desperately in need of job when the offer came and I just had to accept it.”
Goddy Benjamin, manager of Wall Street Club who was also arrested along with the strippers denied that ladies go naked in the clubs to entertain patrons.

However, P.M.News was there several times, when young girls danced stark naked to entertain guests at Wallstreet.
Benjamin stated that the activities at the club are regulated and the club obtained licence from local government for its operation.

“Ladies in my club do not go naked. They do not dance naked. They always cover their body, they are just like other models and nobody harasses them. My ladies do not dance naked,” Benjamin claimed. However, P.M.News can confirm that the statement is inaccurate.

The Task Force Chairman has called on the general public to supply the outfit with more information on where strip clubs operate.

“We want more information from members of the public of the location of more of such club houses,
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