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SOME call it Sinners’ Chapel; many others call it Sodom and Gomorrah. It is one of the budding red light districts in Lagos.
Operating mainly on Social Club Street (and spilling over to one other adjoining inner street) in the Abule
Egba area of Lagos, ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ is an area with a concentration of liquor joints – and everything that goes with it, including commercial sex and, once in a while, theft and some other forms of criminal activities.
On Sunday when Saturday Tribune visited the place, no fewer than 11 liquor joints could be seen on just an approximate 25 metres stretch of the Social Club Street. There were others on the other adjoining street. A cumulative average of 20 men were already seated, drinking – and it was just 6pm.
But as a matter of fact, this was a slow business day for this centre, for on a good day, by that time, the place would be bustling with activities – all forms of activities; and the scarlet ladies would be around already, openly soliciting for customers with such inviting, coquettish statements as ‘How far, my guy?’, ‘Fine man, how now?’ and so on, while they flaunt what they consider most attractive or alluring in their paraphernalia.
Men who step out of their cars (it does not matter whether those cars were borrowed or not) or have the about-town kind of air around them are usually most targeted. this writer experienced this as well on both his first and second visits to the place.
The ladies would turn on their most alluring smiles, making sure to display their carefully exposed cleavages (for those who are so endowed) as the men walk towards their preferred (liquor) joints.
As the day grows darker, the lucky ones (scarlet ladies) disappear with their quarries as others arrive to take their place – almost unobtrusively. This cycle goes on through the night.
Interestingly, directly above one of the busy joints on this street (same building) is a branch of one of the popular new generation pentecostal churches, with the photograph of its senior pastor boldly displayed, as if monitoring the activities going on downstairs.
At twilight, when Saturday Tribune got there, a digital/video disc vendor dished out different songs from a popular Igbo gospel singer, Gozzy Okeke, while the several attendants at the joints prepared barbecue for the evening. But as the night drew nearer, the music changed (the vendor having left for the day) and the soulful gospel music was replaced with fast-paced, high-energy contemporary Nigerian pop music.
If there are communities in Lagos that do not ‘sleep’, ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ qualifies to be among them. The drinking, carousing and commercial sex trade go on through the night, often till the early hours of the morning, as late as 5am. But this has changed now, as, it was gathered, liquor joint operators and their patrons as well as ‘female hustlers’ have now been issued a strict 11pm deadline daily, to wind up their activities or face sanctions.
So, does this mean the police authorities know about the goings on in this place?
On this particular day (Sunday) when Saturday Tribune visited the area, there was little noticeable ‘business’ going on by way of commercial sex solicitations. The number of female ‘hustlers’ could be counted on the fingers of both hands – and they conducted themselves, strangely, with some measure of circumspection. Liquor trade was in full swing though.
The fact that this day coincided with when Nigeria was playing its Confederations Cup match against Spain also did not help matters, as many of the male patrons had been shut back, and were perhaps by then glued to their television sets at home or at viewing centres.
It appears the 11pm deadline is now being taken seriously by all the stakeholders. It was gathered that the police authorities decided to impose the closing time after a young man died following a round of sex with one of the female hustlers.
It was gathered that the young man (allegedly a Yahoo! Yahoo! boy, probably in his late 20s) was said to have hooked a lady, and after lavishing some money on drinks with his friends, decided to have a quick sex in one of the short-time relaxation centres nearby.
He was said to have completed the ‘bout’, but started vomiting blood, before he slumped and died. Needless to say that the incident became an embarrassment to the operators, attracted police attention and has since put the area under unusual police surveillance.
There are rumours too that police patrol men have been capitalising on that incident to conduct raids in the area lately and extorting money from operators and patrons who violate the 11pm deadline.
A source told Saturday Tribune that the female ‘hustlers’ caught there during this period are whisked off and made to pay for their freedom in cash or with sex – or sometimes, both.
Not all the ladies that frequent ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ are full time commercial sex workers; many of them are young women who just do not see anything wrong in using what they have to get their money problems solved.
A middle-aged man who often patronises the facility told Saturday Tribune of his encounter one night with one of such ladies who claimed she was a student of one of the universities in Lagos.
“After everything, I just decided to ask to know a little about her, because she looked so young and I was curious as to why she was in that kind of place, doing that kind of thing. She told me she was a student, and had to ‘hustle’ to pay her bills and take care of her two siblings who are also in school, having lost their parents.
“Some others won’t even open up; they’ll just take their money and leave. Life continues. I gave her a little more than we bargained that night,” he said.
According to him, many so-called ‘responsible’ ladies come there as well, under the cover of darkness, to make quick money. Those who use their services say these ladies are very businesslike; time, as they say, is of essence.
Another patron of the centre had told this writer before the Sunday visit to the area how he once drove to the place, had a drink and invited one of the girls into his car.
“I didn’t have much on me that night to pay for a guest room, and I felt like f...g somebody. After she settled down in my car, I asked how much it would cost me, she said N4,000 (for the night).
“Knowing I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, I told her I wasn’t really in the mood for (penetrative) sex and that I just wanted to finger her and suck on her breasts; how much would she take for that? She hissed and walked away, muttering: ‘don’t waste my time’.”
So what are the ‘charges’? It was gathered that a short, quick sex costs between N1,500 and N2,000 depending on the bargaining power of the man; and that excludes the cost of paying for the one-hour use of the guest room (popularly referred to as ‘short-time’) – which goes for between N1,000 and N2,000, depending on the quality of the facility.
Here, any lady who charges less than N4,000 for a night of sex is considered cheap. Some others insist on N5,000.
Source: Tribune
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