Four suspects have been arrested, including Godwin Oghene Oboirode, the manager of Century Hotel in Owhelogbo in Owhe, Delta State, following the death of Mr Sunday Ogofadar, who lodged in the hotel on Friday, March 21, 2025.
According to SP Bright Edge, the Police Public Relations Officer for the Delta State Police Command, the hotel manager accommodated the deceased and allowed two young men, Johnson and Clement, who claimed they would give him N5 million, to enter his room.
After granting them access, the manager reported seeing only one of the young men, Johnson, while the other, Clement, was not present. When the manager later checked the room, he found it locked from the outside, and Clement had reportedly exited through the back door.
Upon opening the door, the manager discovered that the deceased was already dead but failed to raise an alarm. Even when the victim’s wife called the relations of the man, and they came to the hotel to inquire, as he had informed the wife when he arrived at the hotel of his whereabouts, the manager denied any knowledge of him, falsely claiming that the man had already checked out.
Following his arrest, the manager confessed to the details surrounding the murder. He stated that the two young men approached him, saying they wanted to retrieve something from Mr. Ogofadar, and promised him N5 million if they were successful.
“After about an hour, I checked on the man and found him dead. I saw Johnson while Clement left through the back door. I became afraid and told my boss that it smelled like someone had died in the hotel. I ran to a woman’s house to spend the night. The next morning, I came out to see how the situation had been handled, and that was when the vigilante group and community members attacked me,” he explained.
He further revealed that it was his uncle, Chief Ugwale, the hotel’s owner, who reported the incident to the vigilante group. When asked how he met the two young men, he said he had known them since 2013 when they had brought a girl to the hotel and paid him 300,000 nairas; he had not seen the girl since that time.
According to the police, a POS (Point of Sale) machine was recovered from the suspect’s house.
