I Sold 28 Of My Trucks To Start Quilox – Shina Peller

FUNSHO AROGUNDADE

Nightlife mogul cum politician, Shina Abiola Peller, has said that he had to sell 28 of his oil tankers to raise enough money to start his luxurious style nightclub in Victoria Island, Lagos, Quilox.

Peller on Wednesday told a panel of interviewers on a television talk show that contrary to various insinuations about how he could single-handedly floated and financed such multi-billion naira high-class celebrity hangout, he had to dispose some of his assets from his oil and gas business to live his dream.

He said; “I have to start Quilox after my partnership with other investors in Grotto went sour. As someone who believes in anything worth doing is worth doing well, after my experience with Grotto, I went into researching about clubs. I wanted a purposely-built world-class standard nightclub and I ‘googled’ the best 10 nightclubs in the world, picked my passport and decided to go and see what they were doing.

“I went to live in Miami, filmed in Vegas; I went to VIP rooms in Paris and even as far as even Macau. By the time I got back to Nigeria, my perception about nightclubs had changed. To pay for this, my oil and gas company had to pay for it because at that time there was no bank and nobody believed in the project. So, I put up for sale 28 of our oil tankers to finance Quilox.”

As a businessman and philanthropist, Peller, who was elected into the Nigeria’s House of Representatives during the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections, has touched the lives of his people. He has embarked on several social projects over the years as an individual and through his Shina-Ayo Foundation including hostel he built for corps members at the Permanent Orientation Camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Iseyin, a Science Laboratory and Modern Library he built at the Ansar-u-deen Grammar School 1 in Odo-Omu, Iseyin and a 10-face community toilet donated to the people of Oke-Baba Dudu in Iseyin.

Peller noted that during his constant visits across the Oke Ogun, particularly the four local government that made up his federal constituency, he noticed the acute challenge of portable water and he had to embark on the provision of 16 borehole projects to reduce the water challenge.

The serial entrepreneur said beyond politics, he has always feel concerned about the plight of his Oke Ogun people who he believe deserved a better life than the way they live now. But it became clearer to him that the only way he can impact the generality of people is taking part in the policy making and implementation process. 

“Whether I was running or not, this is something I would have done even if I am not seeking for vote for the political office. I am happy that I did this even before getting the APC ticket. So, if I hadn’t gotten the ticket, I wouldn’t care because those projects would have touched the lives of my people and would have also be an added advantage for whoever the party would have presented,” he said.

Peller is the 44-year old son of the late Nigerian-born international magician, Professor Moshood Abiola Peller. He was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to represent Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Kajola/Iwajowa Federal Constituency of Oyo State.

The handsome entrepreneur disclosed that in the course of achieving his ambition as a federal lawmaker, he never spent any money not meant to be spent for political purpose.

Peller is the CEO of Aquila Group with interests in building and construction, oil and gas, as well as entertainment through Quilox, Restaurants and Aquila Records, a music label.

On whether his absence away as a lawmaker in Abuja would not affect his businesses in Lagos and Oyo States, Peller said there’s no cause for alarm.

“There’s no problem at all as I have a well-structured business organization with strong reliable staff that can hold forth while I will be away. There’s a system in place and even during my over a year campaign, these guys gave me no reason to look back,” he said.