Showbiz aficionado

Dogged entrepreneur and showbiz aficionado

More than a few of his acquaintance do not know what it takes to be Ken Calebs Olumese. What they find easy to fathom is the complete entertainment obtainable within his ritzy three-floor nite club, Niteshift Coliseum. Or, the platform it affords to meet and interact with top government officials, senior citizens, high net worth individuals and captains of industry.

As trouble free as it seems to have knowledge of what it takes to be Ken Calebs Olumese, otherwise known as The Guv’nor, many in his wide network of friends could not fathom him. This came to the fore on December 18, 2003, when tragedy struck Olumese’s upscale club.

Fire ravaged the exquisite watering hole, leaving behind, the debris of giant air conditioners, refrigerators, frames, Disc Jockey cubicle, lightning equipments and musical instruments, among other valuables estimated to be several millions of Naira.

The three floor Coliseum building, architecturally designed along the Leaning Tower of Pisa and The Coliseum of Rome, with a touch of Slavic, Scottish and French designs, which made it unique was badly damaged by a strange mid-day inferno.

The Arena, located on the second floor, where clubbing activities take place was the worst affected, it was burnt to ashes. Equally, The Dacha, the club’s rest house was another badly damaged location. Nothing more than the banquet hall, part of Olumese’s office and the reception were spared.

While the inferno raged, members of the exclusive high profile club found their way to the Opebi Valley location of the club, upon hearing the awful news. With the manner of destruction seen, many that do not know what it takes to be Ken Calebs Olumese did a requiem mass for the Niteshift Coliseum dream.

The skepticism in the air about the future of the Niteshift Coliseum on that ill-fated day notwithstanding, Ken Calebs Olumese said resolutely, “ I will rebuild the Coliseum. The fire incident is only a temporary set back. I will rebuild the structure, because I have no other business. I know I have the muscle. I will rebuild. Moreover, the Coliseum structure was insured.”

That is vintage Olumese. Too strong willed to be stoppable. But those that do not know him did not take him to heart, especially- when they could recall that it took Olumese almost five years of hard work to construct the ultra modern club, which was the flagship of nite clubs in the country, until it was razed.

However, a recent visit to celebrated and bubbly watering hole reflects that, it has been wholly reconstructed and all that sorely miss the attendant razzmatazz, unique only to the upscale club are already in the fray savouring the inimitable Coliseum treatment. The Coliseum is back, bigger and better, with membership ante upped.

Narrating his experience while rebuilding the prestigious club, which is patronized by Nigeria’s high and mighty, the Guvn’or said, “We worked day and night on the renovation”. According to him, before the renovation proper started, he sought permission from the Ministry of Physical Planning, as well as Urban and Regional Development Board, to do a renovation and also to effect a restructure of the club.

With approval granted, serious work and restructure of the Coliseum started, under the close supervision of the Guv’nor. Visibly, the frontal ground floor of the club is no longer what it used to be. Perceptible structural change, in form of newly erected sturdy cylindrical pillars from ground floor to the first floor has given the building a solid base, apart from making it arty.

Those who should know have modestly pegged the cost of reconstructing The Coliseum pegged at N100 million.

Notwithstanding, the capital-intensive nature of the renovation project, the Guv’nor waved aside the idea that he went into partnership with a corporate organization, or solicited funds from the general public, in order to rebuild and re-equip the upscale club.

“We did not go into partnership with anybody, The Coliseum is a private business. Also, we never did a public fund raising. The Niteshift Coliseum is not a mosque, church, non-governmental organization or a charity, therefore, it would not be morally right to solicit for public funds.

“What we did was to appeal to our respectable clientele to support us as much as they can and as much as they will. Corporate interests that have done business with us, also contributed their own quota towards rebuilding The Coliseum”.

Though The Coliseum is a business solely owned by Ken Calebs Olumese, he insists that there is little he can do all time, without all the members, senior members, patrons and friends of the club.

“The Coliseum is a concept and I am here, only as the agent of that concept. Think about it, without the efforts of the numerous friends we have, I cannot make anything materialize. It would be wrong and faulty for any one to think that I am The Coliseum. Look, others cannot be here all the time, I am here as their agent, to represent the concept. You will agree with me that it is not easy to start rebuilding five years after building the club”.

Recounting how he felt when The Coliseum got burnt, Olumese said, “It was either I stop living or continued. But I wanted to continue living to enhance irrevocably, what I have achieved. So, reconstructing The Coliseum is not an after thought.”

Olumese, it would be recalled, set out to run a club where the clientele will get excellent service, a little over sixteen years ago and he did achieve that through hard work. The Niteshift Coliseum dream bloomed into a reality that was continually celebrated by the press and patronized by the high and mighty, until it was razed by a mysterious mid day fire December 18, 2003.

Fifteen months after the tragedy, Olumese completed renovation and restructuring of The Coliseum, which had earlier taken him five years to build.