A staff member of Etashol Hotels and Suites located at Ojodu-Berger in Lagos, Mr Vincent Ehizojie, has confessed to the police how he and four other persons murdered the hotel’s Managing Director, Mrs Olusola Olusoga, and the Business Manager, Tunji Omikunle.
The lifeless bodies of Olusoga and Omikunle were discovered in their separate rooms in the hotel on January 25, 2019.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, told journalists on Monday that investigations by detectives of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (SCIID), revealed the identities of Ehizojie and the other four suspects of the murder through a closed-circuit television mounted in the hotel.
The police arrested Ehizojie in Rivers state, while the other suspects identified as Henry Lolo and Okechi Ezi, both staff members of the hotel, are on the run.
The police identified the other two suspects also still at large simply as Dubai and Dangote, who were contract workers with the hotel.
Edgal said, “Vincent Jeffery Ehizojie, a principal suspect that was arrested in Port-Harcourt where he had gone to take refuge after the heinous act, said all the conspirators agreed that they had no future in the company because they believed the deceased was miserly.
“They, therefore, agreed that she must be robbed of her hard-earned local and foreign currency, being a London returnee. In order to have a hitch-free operation, they agreed that Henry Lolo, currently at large, must prepare Indomie noodles laced with a sleep-inducing stimulant called SK to be served the rest of the staff who were not part of the conspiracy.
“Their plan worked as they successfully sent the rest of the staff members to early sleep, except the Business Manager who was already asleep before he could be served with the poisoned meal.
“However, their attempt to steal the key to the late CEO’s bedroom from the late manager’s pocket proved abortive as he woke up in the process and began to struggle with them at the reception area. In the ensuing scuffle, the manager was strangled to death.
“After strangulating the hotel manager, Tunji Omikunle, they searched his pockets but couldn’t find the keys to Olusoga’s room, so they went upstairs to the late CEO’s room and forced the door open. They met an obviously shocked woman in the room and bound her hands and legs. By the time they were through, the woman had died.
“The gang stole N50,000, jewelleries and other personal effects but couldn’t take them out of the hotel for fear of being challenged by a police team stationed close to the hotel. So they abandoned the loot in the hotel. The items have been recovered as exhibits by homicide detectives investigating the case.”
