How Folorunsho Alakija’s Kids Ran Down Louis Priddy’s Bacchus Night Club
[showads ad=GLO]Within the Lagos social establishment, there are unwritten rules. Sometimes this set of rules can be known to all and sometimes it might be known to a select few. But the general consensus is that there are names you don’t mess with. This set of names is usually revered pedigrees as a result of family, wealth and parental or grand parental accomplishments. Except you have the strength of a bull to take on such respected names, be ready for social extinction should you cross the line. Arguably, the Alakijas have joined that category of names that have the power to compel mere mortals to social extinction. The story we are about to serve you is the hottest gist on the entire Victoria Island/Ikoyi/Lekki axis of Lagos, amongst all big boys and girls and amongst night club goers. In fact, we knew of this story a long time ago but chose to keep it in the cooler for the very right moment. For a very long time, spanning over a decade, Bacchus Night Club on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi was the club to beat. Clubs came and went but Bacchus was going nowhere. It waxed stronger by the year and so the principal owners became some sort of revered demi-gods on the Island social scene. In fact, so powerful did the Priddys become that Louis Priddy, the head of the family’s night club business moved around town with a coterie of chain-smoking, light-skinned and sexually erotic ladies. These girls were Island-based girls who flocked around Louise Priddy for favours such as hookups and contacts to the night kinda guy. As the owner of a powerful club such as Bacchus, Louis had contacts in every facet of the social life. From the rich men and big boys who came to her club to pop endless bottles of expensive champagnes, she definitely knew who had big money to spend and so she connected her circle of friends to the right man.
Notably amongst her closest friends and confidantes is the notoriously scandalous Island big girl, Otas Osaze. In case you have forgotten, Otas who is trying to transform herself to a property consultant on the Island used to be married to a very big boy who acting on a tip off, caught her pants down, having sex with their then houseboy/domestic servant. She was thrown out of her matrimonial home immediately and has since remained a hustler. Louis Priddy was referred to on all matters night clubs on the Island. She was powerful and it began to get to her head. A lot of people perceived her as being too nasty and rude and not according to them, their true respect.
So gradually without even knowing she began to amass enemies who secretly looked forward to the day her club will pack up. That day did come but not even her haters could have seen it coming in this legendary format. As with all night clubs, security and bouncers are provided to keep away touts and maintain law and order within the club. So on this particular day, Folorunsho Alakija’s sons turned up at Bacchus to have a good club night with other big boys and girls but to the shock of their lives were treated nastily by the bouncers and security boys at the club. Unlike Paddy, Eniola and Jide Adenuga who are known within the Island social scenes, the Alakija’s children have never been noise makers and they don’t throw money about. So that personal recognition Tive and Obaro do get at night clubs is never given to the Alakija kids because no one knows them per se. So, while their fiasco with the overzealous bouncers were going on, Louis Priddy and her team got wind of it and immediately arrived to take sides with her staff. This is mainly due to the fact that even though the Alakija boys are tremendously wealthy as a result of their mother’s oil bloc, they don’t lavish money at night clubs, so they were not of economic impact to Louis and her people. The Alakija boys even got more furious when Louis took sides with her security boys. To a lot of Islanders, Louis got it very wrong that night as these Alakijas had the kind of money that could tempt even the pope. But Louis cared less and the boys went home not to lick the wounds of public disgust at a night club but to plot the fall of not only Louis but the end of an era of Bacchus Night Club. They made inquiries about the owner of the property and made an offer that was irresistible and within a few months became the landlord to Louis and her night club business. They did not stop there ooo!
Before Louis could understand what had befallen her, she was served with an iron-clad quit notice that spelt trouble from every corner. She had to quit and as she bade her main source of livelihood and recognition goodbye, she became a laughing stock behind closed doors. Typical of the Lagos society, they laughed at her so much that Louis had to travel to cool off. The Alakija boys did not make use of the place for a long time until recently when works and renovation began to take place there. Then on the 28th of November 2014, the new owner flung their doors open to what is now a re-branded name, 57. This 57 Night Club is believed to be owned by the Alakijas but managed by proxies. The club is a big improvement on the Bacchus Night Club. The opening was grand as it had the who-is-who on the Island social circle. A lot of Louis’ friends were all there except Louis herself and her younger sister Onah Priddy who was sighted at another night club rather than the one place where all the rich ballers were as at that night. Those boys taught Louis to be more humble and never take anyone for granted. The opening ceremony was the talk of town.
Having said all these, it is pertinent to analyze Folorunsho Alakiaja’s four sons. Compared to most silver spoon kids on the Island, they are laid back to a reasonable extent. They are hardly seen holding it down in any of the high profile night clubs and lounges and this makes them relatively unknown to most people, which of course resulted in why they were meted out with such treatment in Bacchus Night Club.
[showads ad=GLO]
