By Juliana Francis
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Superintendent of Police (SP), Abimbola Adebisi, has debunked a social media report claiming that a couple was found dead in a hotel room in the Badagry area of the state.
According to the police spokesperson, the command also came across the report online, but had not received any official report of such an incident.
The social media report alleged that a school principal and her husband were found dead in their hotel room in Badagry, Lagos State.
The deceased were identified as Mrs Ajayi Ikweoku, principal of Salvation Army Memorial High School in Ojo, Lagos, and her husband.
The report claimed that the couple had travelled to Badagry for the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations and lodged at Prime Garden Hotel along Census Extension.
The report further alleged that the couple met with business associates and family friends at the hotel lobby on the day of the incident, where they consumed small amounts of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
Shortly afterwards, Mrs Ikweoku reportedly excused herself and returned to the couple’s room. When she failed to return after two hours and was not responding to phone calls, her husband allegedly went to check on her, but also did not return.
According to the viral report, hotel management became alarmed after six hours of no contact from either guest.
Staff were said to have accessed emergency CCTV footage from inside the room and allegedly observed the couple lying motionless in the bathtub.
A spare key was reportedly used to gain access to the room, where both bodies were allegedly recovered.
The report further claimed that preliminary indications suggested the couple had been dead for about eight hours before they were discovered.
However, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Badagry Police Station denied that any such incident occurred within his jurisdiction, although he acknowledged seeing the report on social media.
Further checks by our reporter on Google also yielded no results for any hotel named Prime Garden Hotel in Badagry.
However, a hotel known as Prime Garden and Suites was found in Ota, Ogun State.
When our reporter contacted the hotel through the phone number listed online, the receiver described the story as false, adding that the management had already seen the report circulating on social media and was preparing an official statement to debunk it.
