There has been anxiety at the Jonaith Hotel
and Suites in the Lekki/Ajah area of Lagos
after a 24yrs old guy, identified as Michael
Afeso, was found dead in one of the hotel
room he checked into.
Michael’s girlfriend, who had stayed with
him on Friday evening, was sighted on
Saturday morning on the CCTV camera,
escaping quietly from the room…
She was said to have fled the hotel before
the arrival of policemen from the Ajah
division, who later took the late Michael’s
corpse to a mortuary.
According to Punch, Michael, an indigene
of Akoko Edo LGa of Edo State, had
checked into a room in the hotel on Friday
and had enjoyed some bottles of beer with
a friend, identified as Abass.
It was learnt that Abass left the deceased in
the company with a lady, whom the latter
had sent for. (?) This statement here is kind
of confusing.
Anyway, the corpse of the victim was said
to have been discovered by one of the hotel
workers, who had gone to his room at
checkout.
A relative of
Michael, identified as Olufemi
Oladejo, said the family was notified by
one of his friends. He said, “When we got
there, the management of the hotel told us
they found the girl in their CCTV tip-toeing
out.
“When we challenged them on why they
did not stop her since they both checked in
together, they changed the story and said
the video was of another room and that it
had nothing to do with the case.
“The hotel management said one Abass,
who was their customer, reserved the room
for Michael. We were told that they both
took some bottles of beer before Abass left.
They said Michael was alone in his room
before they saw his corpse.”
The victim’s father, Pa Abraham, said that
he was expecting his son to send him some
money for upkeep and a project, when he
was told he had died.
He said, “My other children who had been
aware of the incident could not break the
news to me because I was sick. Instead,
they informed my friend, who called me to
his house and broke the sad news to me.
“The hotel management and the police
have been dribbling us and telling us all
kinds of lies. Even our lawyer was
compromised and he has stopped picking
my calls. I insisted that the matter be
transferred from Ajah because I lost
confidence in the police in that division.”
The matter has been transferred to the
State Department of Criminal Investigation,
Yaba.
However, the result of the autopsy
indicated that the victim died of heart
attack and hypertension.
But the late Michael’s family insisted that
the case had been tampered with and
urged Police IG, Solomon Arase, to conduct
an independent investigation into the
matter.
The hotel lawyer, Akran Akra, in a chat
with PUNCH, denied that the hotel covered
up anything.
He said, “There was no time that the hotel
changed any story. We gave the police and
the deceased’s family unlimited access to
our IT rooms on several occasions. The girl
and the man did not go in together. She
came in later as a visitor.
“The fact of the case is that Michael
checked into the hotel on the night of
Friday, October 23, 2015. The room he
checked into had earlier been reserved for
him by one of his friends, who checked in
earlier the same day.
“His friends, who were with him that
night, confirmed that on arrival at the
hotel, the deceased joined them at the pool
bar where they all had drinks together
before retiring to his hotel room to meet
his girlfriend, who he was expecting.
“At about 12.15pm the next day, one of the
hotel’s housekeepers, who was carrying
out a routine clean-up at checkout found
the lifeless body of Michael on the bed.”
He said the hotel management immediately
alerted the police.
“There was no complicity on the part of
the hotel. The food that was served by the
chef was not eaten by the deceased. The
CCTV footage did not indicate a foul play,”
he stressed.
