The London-based owner of a Nigerian hotel was found dead in a
bedroom after five workers drugged fellow staff with poisoned
noodles in a robbery plot, police in the country have said.
Mother-of-four Abimbola Olusola, 56, was found tied to a bed by
her son at the hotel near the Nigerian city of Lagos, according to
relatives.
Tunji Omikunle, the hotel’s manager, was also found dead.
He had gone to bed before an evening meal of instant noodles
laced with a powerful sleeping drug was served to unsuspecting
staff, but was woken when one of the plotters tried to snatch keys
from his pocket.
Mr Omikunle was strangled in the ensuing struggle, according to
Lagos police chief Edgal Imohimi, before the robbers battered down
Ms Olusola’s bedroom door, ransacked her room and left her for
dead.
She moved from Nigeria to Hackney more than 30 years
ago to raise her family and returned to Lagos last year to oversee
the Etashol hotel. Its royal suite costs £120 a night.
Her daughter Melisa Whiskey, a renowned Afrobeat singer signed
to BMG, paid tribute on Instagram. She said: “My life will never be
the same, I will never be the same. She was the most determined and
hard-working person I met in life.”
Abimbola Olusola returned to Lagos last year to
oversee the Etashol hotel (Facebook )
She also appealed for information to track down the suspects,
saying: “My brother … found her dead body. This heinous crime
cannot go just like that.”
Ms Olusola’s sister Abiodun Teriba added: “She was a
hard-working mom, a mother-of-four and was living in England for
over 34 years. She decided last year it was time to go back home
and settle, in just one year she was murdered like a goat.”
Police in Lagos yesterday arrested Vincent Ehizojie, 35, in
connection with the killings and are still looking for four other
suspects.
Prime suspect Vincent Ehizojie, in custody in Lagos
(ES local feed )
Mr Imohimi told reporters: “According to the prime suspect, 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.” He
said that after killing the hotel manager, the gang forced their
way into Ms Olusola’s bedroom.
“They met an obviously shocked woman in the room and bound her
hand and leg. By the time they were through, the woman died,” Mr
Imohimi said. “The gang stole her money (about £100), jewellery and
other personal effects … [but] they abandoned the loot in the
hotel.
“An investigation has established a prima facie case of
conspiracy and murder against the suspects for the murder
of the deceased person.”