Teacher and mother of four, Rhoda Ogofotha, whose husband was killed in a hotel in Delta State, shares with CHUKWUDI AKASIKE the circumstance that led to her husband’s death in a hotel after he travelled to attend the burial ceremony of a relative
What is your occupation?
I’m a teacher in Akute, Ogun State.
Can you narrate the circumstances that led to your husband’s death in a hotel?
My husband travelled from Lagos to attend his brother’s burial, which was on the 22nd of March. So, he left Lagos and on Thursday evening; he lodged in that hotel, the Century Hotel, in his hometown and we talked on Friday.
On Saturday morning, he was the one who called me, and we talked for some time. We ended the call at about 7.35 am after he told me he wanted to prepare for the occasion. I told him I wanted to prepare for church. So that very day, we could not talk. It was unusual that my husband did not call me, although I remember that he told me that he was going to be very busy. So, I said probably that was why. I went to church, I went for a visitation, and when I came back, I got home very late.
What happened thereafter?
The next day, which was Sunday, I received a call from the late brother’s wife, who called me and asked about my husband. She said the nephew called her and said they did not see my husband at the party. I was baffled because that very occasion was what took him from there, so why would he not be there? I asked her to send me the number of the nephew because I did not have it. She sent the contact information, and I called the nephew. I asked him where his uncle was, but he said they were looking for him.
I was shocked. I asked him if they had been to the hotel, and he said they had been there, but they were told my husband had checked out. I said that was a lie and that my husband could not have checked out because we spoke the previous day, which was on Saturday, and he never told me he checked out. He only told me he was preparing to dress up and attend the occasion, and I insisted that he did not check out to anywhere.
I then suggested to him to go and complain to the police because I was in Lagos at the time, and it was not easy for me to travel down there. I did not even know that it was the manager who went with the nephew to the police station to complain. The nephew did not even know what they wrote in the statement or complaint.
They came back, and I was so nervous and worried. I started making calls to one or two people. I called my brother, a reverend in another community, because what was said about my husband was not clear to me, and my husband could not have checked out anywhere. I pleaded with him to go to the hotel and check by himself after service that day. After the service, they went there. I called another pastor of ours who lives in that community.
It wasn’t until in the evening when the family themselves went to the police station that the nephew received a message on their way to the police station; in that message, they said, ‘We are kidnappers, your brother is in our custody, follow instructions.’
What happened when they got to the police station?
When they got to the police post, they showed the message to the officers who said my husband might have been kidnapped. I said, how can they kidnap him? The policemen advised them not to make use of that phone for the time being. As of that time, people had come to my house in Lambe.
I asked the nephew to send the number used in sending the text message so we could track it. When we tracked it, we discovered that the number was coming from a community they call Abe in Delta State. When they checked for who owned the number, we saw that it belonged to a young point-of-sales (PoS) girl who had been declared missing since the 13th of December, 2024, and they had been using her phone number.
We became afraid that he was kidnapped. Not quite long after, they sent another message to that same nephew of my husband, asking for a ransom of N20m and that if we involved the police, we would not see my husband again. We were so confused and didn’t even know what to do. I was crying. I called one of my brothers in Benin because he knew some vigilantes.
I pleaded with him to let the vigilantes go to the hotel because I did not believe the story that my husband was kidnapped. After all, they would have given him the phone to speak with us if he was truly kidnapped, and the nephew who they were sending the message was a small boy who did not have money. At that time, night had come, and I was told to go and lie down inside the room.
How did you eventually get the news that your husband had died?
My son was in the living room, and I heard him shout, ‘My daddy’. He received a call that the body of my husband was found in the same hotel where they claimed that he had checked out previously. That’s all I know.
How did you feel when you learnt that your husband, who was declared kidnapped, had been killed in the hotel?
I can’t even imagine up till now. I’m just looking at it like a mirage because it’s hard for me to believe that he is dead. I’m still asking, ‘Is it true that he is dead’? I was devastated. I didn’t even know what to do because he never had a headache or anything wrong with him. This is somebody that I spoke to previously, only for me to be told that he was found dead in a hotel.
Before leaving home, did you have any premonition or sign that something untoward would happen?
No. There was no dreams or anything of the sort.
We learnt that he called you at a point in time. Did your husband tell you why he decided to stay in the hotel in that community?
Firstly, he has not built his own house, and the brother they wanted to go and bury lived all his life in Warri and had no house in Delta State, so there was nothing like a family house there on the father’s side; the only house there belonged to a relative, and being a man, he said he would just stay in the hotel when he finished before coming back home.
Those behind the dastardly act have been arrested. How far have the police gone with further investigation?
They have been apprehended. First of all, the owner of the hotel, who the PRO or so, I don’t know, was trying to exonerate. I don’t even understand what that one was saying. As of today, my son, my brother, and all of them travelled. They’ve come back from our hometown. And, when they were there, they took the matter to Asaba.
The day they went to Asaba, which was Friday last week, the family of the missing point-of-sales girl followed them to Asaba, thinking that her case was already at Asaba. But unfortunately, it was like her case had not got to Asaba.
It was my husband’s death that revealed that the hotel staff was the one that killed the (PoS) girl, and he knew that the police were to come to the hotel and the community on Monday. So, on Monday, my brother and my son, all of them were there. Before they got there, there was a crowd of people, even in the hotel, and when they brought the so-called manager, and the police were about to take him in, they could not help.
And before they knew it, they said people had razed that hotel down; they burnt the hotel, according to what I heard. So, as we speak, that is all. The police said Monday and Tuesday (March 31 and April 1) were public holidays, and by Wednesday, they would file their report, and we would hear from them. So, we’ve not heard anything.
Are you satisfied with how far the police have gone with the investigation?
So far, at least, they are working, but my prayer is that they should not pervert justice; they should get to the root of the matter as they suffered an innocent man. Let them pay for it; let justice be served. For now, at least, I can’t just complain. You know that anything that has to do with the police takes time, and gradually they will do it. That’s just what I can say.
How would you describe your husband?
My husband was very loving; he was a father, and he was a pastor to the core. He had no issue with anybody. He was always on his own because he had no father, and he had no mother. That was why, when he travelled, he said, ‘I don’t want to inconvenience anybody, let me look for a small place to hide myself and do whatever I want to do before I come back home.’ He was a loving person.
What was his occupation while he was alive?
He was a pastor, and he had a little shop because he had retired from service. He worked in Mandilas normal division. So, he was a marketer there. So, when he retired, he got a small shop, and he was selling small things like all these okada, spare parts, that’s what he was managing. And the ministry; that was what he did for a living. It was not like he was a full pastor.
Some people may want to ask why you did not travel along with your husband for the burial of a relative.
We wanted to travel, but I had to look at the cost implication from here to Delta State and coming back because he and the late brother were of the same father, but not the same mother. So, we concluded that, and I asked, ‘Do I have a role there? I had to call the wife of the brother and explained, and she said there was no problem, and they understood that the place was far. That was why I did not travel.
Don’t you think if you were with him, your husband’s killers wouldn’t have the opportunity to attack him?
Only God knows that. I don’t know.
How many children do you have?
I have four children, and the eldest is 27 years old.
How old was your husband?
My husband was 57 years old.
How old are you now?
I’m not up to 54 years old yet, but this year, by July, I will be 54.
How did your children react to the incident?
They are in pain that their father left like that without a word.
How do you intend to cope with your children in the absence of your husband as it is now?
It is only God who can help me.
What is your message to the police handling the case?
My own is that justice should be served; my husband should not die in vain. The perpetrators of such acts must be brought to book.
