A POS operator buried on hotel grounds. A pastor tied to a bed, stabbed. A student dumped near a pool. Nigeria’s hospitality industry faces a crisis of trust amid a chilling trend of hotel-linked murders
LAGOS — When Pastor Sunday Ogofotha checked into Century Home Hotel in Delta State on March 21, he texted his wife the room number—a decision that would later expose his killers. By dawn, the cleric was dead, tied to his bed with multiple stab wounds, his ATM cards emptied.
His murder mirrors a grisly pattern: Across Nigeria, hotels have become crime scenes where guests vanish or are found mutilated, often with staff implicated. In Anambra, 30 shallow graves were uncovered at Udoka Golden Point Hotel. In Osun, MBA student Timothy Adegoke was killed at Hilton Hotels, his body dumped in a grave.
Staff as Accomplices
Confessions paint a macabre picture. Century Home’s manager, Godwin Iboirode, admitted to The PUNCH that two men paid him N5 million to access Ogofotha’s room. A security guard’s wife confessed her husband murdered a POS operator, Bethel, for accusing him of fraud—her body buried on-site.
Rituals & Cover-Ups
Motives range from organ harvesting to occult rituals, echoing the infamous 1996 Otokoto killings where an 11-year-old was dismembered in an Owerri hotel. In Abuja, Esther Isaac’s brother accused police of collusion after her death in a Gwarinpa hotel with “faulty” CCTV.
Failed Safeguards
Safety expert Stanley Ihakpe urges guests to vet hotels and share locations. “Corporate travelers need risk-assessed lodgings,” he told Saturday PUNCH. Yet, with corruption and weak enforcement, many hotels operate unchecked.
As Delta police probe Ogofotha’s case, one question lingers: How many more bodies lie undiscovered in Nigeria’s deadly hotels?