Entertainment
Night Life In Port Harcourt … Places To Catch Fun
Port Harcourt,widely known as Garden city is a bubbling capital city in the country. It is a place every Nigerian with taste for the good things of life want to visit and spend their vacation.
At a time, it was common gossip that the most fashionable people and beautiful women in Africa were in Port Harcourt. The emergence of Agbani Darego from the riverine speaking area of the state as the first African to clinch the coveted crown of Miss World, Most Beautiful
Girl in the World. reinforced the talk that the most beautiful queens were found in this trendy city. It is common knowledge that life is not cheap in Port Harcourt because the women like every glamour girl are not cheap. You see some of them in their radiance and beauty at red light districts in new GRA area of Port Harcourt where you find most of the night clubs.
Before Chibuikc Amaechi came on board as governor in his first term, night life was almost at a halt because miscreants and brigands who masqueraded as militants had held the state under siege. So most residents and party lovers had no choice but to remain indoors after close of work.
But when Amaechi assumed office, one of the first task he undertook was to dislodge these hoodlums from the city. He smoked them out from their hideouts with the aid of the Joint Task Force. JTF. The few who were lucky to escape arrest and prosecution by the security body fled the town. Night life resumed again, this time more colourful in almost all parts of the city.
Virtually all major streets you find drinking spots, with Nijajams blaring from speakers from 8pm and sometimes till dawn. It is difficult to tell which is a night club in this city because these drinking spots operate also as night clubs from 8pm, even some restaurants and car wash do too.
You spend about thrice the amount for any call girl in other states, in Port Harcourt. This is simply because thc girls are rated in a class of their own.
Most guys begin their evenings with their lady friends at the Silver bird cinema. From the movie hall. they empty into the bar where there is a live Disc Jockey, DJ, dishing out jams from his corner at the har. Later. they move out to other night clubs in new GRA and other parts of Port Harcourt. The list of night clubs. restaurants/bars and car wash-turned night clubs is endless.
You see all manner of charming babes at these spots mostly at weekends. Live Disc jockey, DJ, dishing outjams from his corner at the bar. There are those they nick named 100 level (those between 18 to 21) and these ones are the most patronised even if they ask for as much as ten, twenty thousand to give a guy good company for a night.
The girls prefer night at hotels with guys. According to Nkechi, “night at hotels with the guys shields her from all kinds of harassment”. She said no woman for instance would walk into the room in a hotel to embarrass her for spending night with the husband.
night life lire in the city has also brought brisk business for operators of popular drinking spots. At some or them a bottle of Heineken sells as high. as five hundred to eight hundred naira, sometimes even at one thousand. two hundred naira. Choice drinks like Hennessey, Black label go for as much as twenty five thousand naira at some ofthe spots.
These drinks are taken with ‘point and kill’ i.e. fish made into pepper soup. The customer is led to a makeshift pond in the bar or club and given the opportunity to point at any fish which will be used to prepare pepper soup for him and his guest (s). The price of the ‘point and kill’ varies frorn the size of the fish and the spot. Some ofthem could sell for four or five thousand naira.
Those into fast food business and suya are also counting their gains with the return of night life to the city. Sometimes, you see guys rush out of the clubs to have quick meals made from indomie prepared with fried eggs. Fast food operators mount their stands close to most of these busy spots.
There is also the angle of business for taxi drivers. You see them hang around these clubs and bars to take passengers home after a night full of fun. A taxi driver, Mr Bola told The Tide Entertaiment that he only operated at night.
According to him, he starts working from 10 pm til 5am daily while he rests in the day time. He said he makes what he calls ‘his cool money’ at night. He said all he does is to hang around these busy night clubs and restaurants turned night clubs for patronage. adding that most of his clients were girls.The taxi driver said some of the girls move to as much as three, four clubs in one night until they meet a guy that is ready to engage them for their ‘service’ for the night among the night clubs to visit are
Barracuda
Address: G.R.A. Phsse 2 Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Bootleggers
Address: Olu Obosanjo Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Charlie’s
Address: G.R.A. Jnction Aba Rd, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Dan-Esther, Bodaniels Hotel
Address: Rumuplomeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Grendale’s Nite Club
Address: Presidential Hotel. Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Illusions Night Club
Address: Orazi, Port Harcourt. Rivers State.
Le Meridien Ogeyi Place
Address: 45 Tombia Street GRA Phsse 11, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Morella
Address: Amodi flats Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Nightbox
Address: Perekule Close, G.R.A., Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Sahara
Address: Trans Amadi Rd, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
T’s Place
Address: Amadi Flat, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Barracuda
Address: Perekule Close, G.R.A, Port Harcourt. Rivers State
Blue Elephant
Address: G.R.A. Port Harcourt. Rivers State.
Blue Club
Etc.
Entertainment
Ijaw Nation Day Festival Begins, Today
All is now set for the three-day cultural event tagged, Ijaw ‘Nation Day Festival’ expected to commence today, in Lagos State.
The fiesta is organised by Miebaka Aggo, a professional cyclist and an Ijaw son who is currently based in Lagos State.
Aggo, who disclosed this to The Tide Entertainment yesterday, said that the cultural event which is organised annually, serves as a reminder of the Ijaw culture to the ijaws residing in Lagos State
’For the cultural festival is to show the Ijaws in Lagos our tradition, so they don’t forget,’ he said.
According to him, the fiesta will feature cultural displays such as masquerades, Ijaw dance performances, boat regatta and traditional wrestling, arts and crafts displays and musical performance.
Meanwhile, preparations are ongoing to host a traditional sports festival this year end in Bayelsa Sate or Rivers State of the Niger Delta region.
‘“The traditional sports festival will be held in Niger Delta this year end or early next year. It is a big budget,” he explained.
He mentioned that the organisers are hopeful of sponsorship from companies and well-meaning individuals in the region.
Sports to be contested for include
1. Wrestling
2. Swimming
3. Canoeing
4. Draft
5. Aquathlon(run, swim, run respectively)
6. Triathlon (bike, swim, run)
“However, 5 and 6 are borrowed Olympic sports that favour our region because we can swim, but the major sports to expect are wrestling, swimming and canoeing,” he said.
Nancy Briggs
Entertainment
Life And Times Of Goddy Oku
“In his book, ‘The Wings’, drummer-turned-guitarist, Manford Best, wrote extensively and glowingly of the pivotal role Goddy played in his music career, in the face of his (Manford’s) natural challenge”
On Friday, January 19, 2024, Chief Tony Okoroji, the Chairman of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), Chief Uche Emeka Paul, Sir Angus Power Nwangwu and other members of COSON were in Ukpo, Dunukofia Local Government Area, Anambra State to pay the last respects of COSON to Engr Goddy Ogomegbunam Oku. Describing Oku as an “iconic musician…long-term motivator of the music industry…leader of the Hygrades, proprietor of Godiac Studios…a great man and a true genius”, Chief Okoroji draped the casket with the flag of COSON. To perform this rite of passage, Okoroji flew in from Lagos, Paul flew in from Abuja, Nwangwu drove in from Enugu and other members arrived from various states reflecting the esteemed regards Goddy Oku commanded in the COSON family. My experience with Goddy Oku and those of others as contained in the following dirge epitomise the essence of Okoroji’s graveside oration. Goddy was really a “long-term motivator of the music industry”.
During the Nigerian civil war, my family took refuge in Umuchima, down the valley at the outskirts of Orlu, Imo State. One evening, my father returned from Orlu with a message from my friend, Emeka Ifejika, that Biafra Army Officers Training School (BAOTS) was setting up a pop band and they were searching for a bass guitarist. Goodness gracious!!! I was the bassist of The Hardnuts, my defunct teenage band in Port Harcourt; so, I saw it as the opportunity to avoid conscription, which had intensified at the time. Very early the next morning, I sneaked through the back into the sprawling scenic compound of Bishop Shanaham College, Orlu, which housed BAOTS and, as God would have it, I met Goddy Oku. For three hours, he drilled me on bass guitar playing, basic chord progressions and eventually accepted me as bassist/vocalist of the proposed band. An identity card and a “Pass” were quickly prepared to enable me return to Umuchima the next day, pick up my personal effects and report for duty.
With Dona Dyke (Donatus Nwadike) on drums and Goddy on lead guitar/vocals, we became The Silhouettes, a power trio that played side-by-side Sunny Nwamama of “Umunwanyi ji ukwu achodi” fame. That was at a time Jimi Hendrix Experience, James Gang, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Cream, Grand Funk Railroad and other Power Trios were hip in Europe and America but hadn’t emerged in the West African music scene; so, our ensemble was peculiar or odd, if you prefer.
One day, Warrant Officer Murphy introduced a young man by name Justus Nnakwe (JU-Xperience) to Goddy and appealed that he (Justus) should be taught an instrument. Within two weeks, Goddy drilled Justus and transformed him from a complete neophyte to a rhythm guitarist. Eventually, JU had his first outing and The Silhouettes morphed into a four-some at an event for the Commandant of BAOTS, Colonel Tim Onwuatuegwu. Thereafter, Goddy groomed a singer whose entry gave the band a greater body and earthy sound. At the end of the civil war, I returned home to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, cofounded The Blackstones Band in January 1970 and chased the stars until 1972 when societal and family pressure leashed me back to school in the United States where I consistently earned pocket change thru playing guitar; the trade in which Goddy Oku groomed and gowned me.
Goddy mentored numerous artists in his days; the list is virtually endless. Sonny Okosuns, John Kerry, Nelly Uchendu, Panam Percy Paul, Chris Okotie, Felix Liberty, Felarday, Clement Amaechi and a host of others. Kenny Koburn (KK) once reminisced on how he broke bounds in high school to watch The Blackstones perform at Golf Course Hotel, Owerri in the early 1970s. Enamored by the performance of the bassist of the band, KK said he dropped out of school and headed to Enugu where he was tutored to play bass guitar by Goddy Oku. Subsequently, KK co-founded Founders Fifteen of Port Harcourt. In his book, ‘The Wings’, drummer-turned-guitarist, Manford Best, wrote extensively and glowingly of the pivotal role Goddy played in his music career, in the face of his (Manford’s) natural challenge. Before his demise, Prof Frank Onyezili (Frank Zilly of The Fractions) narrated to me the crucial role Goddy played in his music career before he returned to school. Goddy it was who played the classical guitar interlude in “Igede” by Celestine Ukwu. Arguably, “Igede” stands out as the first instrumental music in the Highlife genre and one of the most memorable songs of Celestine Ukwu.
Over the years, Goddy and I maintained contact and I visited him periodically. We even planned that he’d do one week with me in Port Harcourt and we’d embark on a musical pilgrimage to Abak, Akwa Ibom State to visit Emmanuel Ntia of Solo Hit fame, but that didn’t come to fruition. However, when JU came home in April 2021, I hopped into Enugu on the 13th and the three of us spent one night of reminiscences. We put two mattresses on the floor in Goddy’s parlor and played guitar and talked all night. We relived our collective experiences and walked through the engagements we played during the civil war. It was a memorable night.
JU Xperience, Goddy and
The next morning, April 14, 2021, we took a group photograph without realising that that would be the last time we’d see each other. First, JU sailed to the great beyond in far away China and now Goddy is gone; a rather grim reminder of my sitting at the “Departure Lounge of Life”.
May the creative soul of Godfrey Ogomegbunam Oku rest in the Bosom of God, Amen.
Jason Osai
Entertainment
TB Joshua:This Is Why Victims Do Not Speak Up -Seun Kuti
Seun Kuti has weighed in on the ongoing controversy regarding late Nigerian Prophet, TB Joshua, and states that the vilification of victims is why they do not speak up.
Seun Kuti does not believe that all people who do good things are completely good people.
“I don’t care if he took your family to space, you aren’t everybody,” he said.
The Tide Entertainment reports that the singer aired his views on the issue on Wednesday, charging “religious people” to “do better.”
“Eyin Elebi. Once person someone shares money and rice for people, he is a good person automatically,” he said.
”When this man was alive, he was sooo powerful that his criminal negligence, according to state coroner in Lagos led to the death of 84 people and he didn’t spend one second in police station and you want some young women to come and do what?! When Timis wife came out, you all turned a married woman to a prostitute like magic! That’ is why victims do not speak up!! E du Betta, religious people!!”
Going further, he slammed people who defend the late prophet on the grounds that he helped them one way or another, stressing that the experience of some is not the experience of all people.
In his words, “I don’t care if he took your family to space, and he was good to you, you are not everybody! Because a politician helped one person he would prove to the world that the man is a ‘good person!’ News flash- YOU ARE NOT EVERYBODY!!!”
The late prophet and his church have become the subject of controversy after a three part documentary produced by the BBC, highlighted the negative experiences of ex-Synagogue Church of all Nations members, who called the church “a cult”. Some women also accused TB Joshua of rape, forced abortions, child abuse and overall abuse. These claims have become a topic of discourse ever since with some siding with the church and others choosing to believe the victims.
However, the church has denied all the allegations.
-
News4 days ago
Trafficking: Beware Of Fake $900 Jobs, NAPTIP Warns Nigerians
-
Focus4 days ago
Reminisces On Tributes To Mrs Adeline Ndalu Jaja
-
Nation2 days ago
Ododo Applauds Security Agencies Over Rescue Of 43 Bus Passengers
-
Oil & Energy4 days ago
NNPCL Lists Transparency, Accountability, Others, As Transformation Drivers
-
News4 days ago
Food Prices Rise In February 2024 -NBS
-
Niger Delta2 days ago
Bayelsa Community Set For Youth Election, Inaugurates Eleco
-
News2 days ago
Deputy Gov Urges Rivers Youths To Read Impactful Books
-
Education4 days ago
Bill To Increase UBEC Funding Passes Second Reading