UK diasporan Abimbola Olusola strangled at her Lagos hotel by staffers who were fleecing her

UNITED Kingdom diasporan Abimbola Olusola and the manager of her Lagos hotel Tunji Omikunle have been murdered by a gang of armed hoodlums in the Ojodu Berger area of Lagos State during a recent robbery.

In a gruesome and chilling murder case, Mrs Olusola and her manager were drugged, tied up and strangled by a gang that included some workers at the hotel. Her Etashol Hotel and Suites, located on Budland Street in Ojodu appeared to have been the target of a carefully planned robbery.

Mrs Olusola, 56, who had lived in London for 35 years, was said to have returned to Nigeria recently and opened the hotel for business in March 2018. However, she had issues with some of the workers, who allegedly defrauded the hotel of millions of naira and two of them were sacked after the police were invited to look into the matter.

Last Thursday, a gang said to have consisted some of the sacked workers and some still in the employment of the hotel, allegedly conspired among themselves and drugged Mrs Olusola and Mr Omikunle. They then deactivated the Closed Circuit Television cameras on the premises and dragged the manager into a toilet, where his hands and feet were tied.

Mr Omikunle was then strangled, after which the suspects proceeded to Mrs Olusola’s room and strangled her too. After killing the duo, the suspects fled the hotel, as family members discovered  the lifeless bodies of the victims and reported the matter to the Ojodu Abiodun Police Station.

One family member of the late businesswoman, said Mrs Olusola was planning to lease out the hotel and return to London before she was murdered. To make matters worse, it was her 12-year-old son, who was to go to school on Friday morning, that was the first to discover his mother’s corpse.

She added: “The incident happened on Thursday night cum Friday morning when I was called that my sister had been murdered by the boys working for her in the hotel. From what I learnt, the manager had dragged one of them, called Light, to a police station for involvement in fraud in the hotel and there were also cases of stealing involving these guys, with the two of them being sacked.

“On Thursday night, the men tied Tunji’s hands and feet and strangled him. I think it was after they had killed Tunji that they got access to the card that opens my sister’s room and they went to her bed, tied her up and strangled her.”

Tunji’s uncle, Chief Tunde Omikunle, said the deceased was survived by his wife and twin children. Police spokesman Chike Oti, confirmed the incident, adding that investigations are ongoing.