Nigerian Engineer Michael Afeso Dies Of Heart Attack – Jonaith Hotel Releases Press Statement

December 4, 2015 – Autopsy Result Reveals That Nigerian Engineer Michael Afeso Dies Of Heart Attack – Jonaith Hotel Releases Press Statement

The said Micheal Afeso checked into the hotel on the night of Friday, 23rd October, 2015. The room he checked into had earlier been reserved for him by one of his friends who checked in earlier that same day. His friends who were with him that night confirmed that on arrival at the hotel that night, the deceased sat out with them at the Hotel’s pool bar where they all had drinks together before retiring to his hotel room to meet his girl-friend which he said was being expected.

At about 12.15pm the next day, one of the Hotel’s house-keepers who was carrying out their routine clean-up at the Hotel’s check-out time tapped on the deceased’s door but did not get any response. He felt that probably the deceased would later call the Front Desk for an extension of his stay at the Hotel. He said he checked again at about an hour later and discovered that the room was still locked. At about 2pm, the House-Keeper said he walked up to the Front Desk officers to confirm if the occupant of that particular room had checked or called them but got a negative response. At that juncture, he felt compelled to get the master-key from the Front-Desk with a view to accessing the room. He said he got into the room to discover the lifeless body of the deceased still lying on the bed. The attention of the management of the

Hotel was quickly drawn into the matter. Almost immediately, the management reported the matter both to the Ajah Divisional Police Headquarters and the Area “J” Command. Officers of the Division led by one Supol Owoseni moved into the Hotel. They were subsequently joined by the Divisional Crime Officer. The officers duly questioned some members of staff of the Hotel, took pictures of the incidence room, took their time to watch cctv footages that same night and thereafter, moved the corpse to the morgue at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba.

Curiously, a manager and a chef in the hotel were picked up for further questioning by the Police. This was in spite of the fact that there was no scintilla of complicity on the part of the Hotel and above all, the food that was served by the chef was not even touched by the deceased. Moreso, the CCTV footage that covered the deceased never indicated foul play at any point. At a point, the IT Room of the Hotel became a beehive of activities as both the Police and members of the deceased’s family along with their Lawyer were jointly visiting and sitting at long hours to view cctv footages.

All efforts to effect the release of the members of staff of the Hotel who were picked up for questioning were abortive as the Ajah Division firmly maintained that investigations were still inconclusive. However, the matter was eventually transferred to the State CID, Panti, Yaba around the 29th day of October, 2015. An investigating team under OC D4 led by one Supol Tony with Mr. John Babalola as IPO again visited the hotel and interrogated all members of staff of the Hotel they considered relevant to the investigation. While in the Hotel, they also took time off to watch cctv footages with members of the deceased’s family and their Lawyer present. At a point, the Lawyer representing the deceased’s family became convinced that the Hotel has no hand in the unfortunate death of Mr. Afeso. At that point, the Lawyer even requested that the Hotel assists the bereaved family financially. However, the lawyer representing the Hotel advised the other party to be patient in view of the fact that releasing any sum of money to the deceased’s family at the material time may send wrong signals to the public. Before leaving the Hotel, the team from Panti demanded for copies of the footages which were promptly forwarded to them.

After spending about two weeks in an unjustifiable detention, the Manager and chef of the Hotel were reluctantly released by the Police who were increasingly becoming convinced of the Hotel’s innocence. About three days later, the Police informed the management of the Hotel that an autopsy had been carried out and the result showed that the deceased died of heart failure. In fact the result shows that he died of both acute left ventricular failure and hypertensive heart disease.

It is absolutely imperative to point out that there was no point at which the Hotel was uncooperative in the course of the investigation. The claim by the father of the deceased that the Hotel has been lying and dribbling the family is unfounded. It is also maliciously untrue as reported in some quarters that it was after the Police and a lawyer were brought in that the Hotel was “compelled to show the video recording of the CCTV…” Both the Police and the lawyer representing the deceased’s family will always, in good conscience, attest to the fact that the Hotel did not only on their own volition informed all concerned parties that it has cctv that could help in the investigation but also optimally cooperated in the course of the investigation.

Also heavily mischievous is the claim by one writer who clearly has a knack for playing to the gallery that an attempt was made to edit the footages and that the hotel manager denied the claim that somebody passed on in the hotel room. This is absurd, to say the least! How can the same Hotel that reported the incident be the one that will deny same in another breathe? The author of the article in question never visited the Hotel to conduct any interview or verify his facts neither did he call anybody on the telephone as claimed. Curiously, the result of the post mortem carried out about two weeks before the publication was never mentioned! It is either he is being economical with the truth or deliberately mischievous. In fact, the article does not only reek of mischief designed to cast aspersion on the image of the Hotel but also underscores the depth of the writer’s junk/yellow journalism.

The allusion to overtures that the Hotel caters for the burial ceremonies is a figment of the imagination of the writer. It is noteworthy that in the afternoon of Thursday, 19th November, 2015, the Lawyer representing the deceased’s family informed the Lawyer to the Hotel that the remains of the deceased will be interred on Friday, 20th November, 2015 and inquired if the Hotel was willing to assist the family of the deceased. The Hotel’s lawyer noted that albeit the information was rather sudden but that he will nonetheless ensure that the Hotel shows some “concern.”

One expects that writers on this issue will not only make copious reference to the result of the autopsy but also give credit to the management of the Hotel for the degree of its cooperation in the course of the investigation. Further, if the family of the deceased were not satisfied with the result of the autopsy, they were, before the burial ceremonies and even now entitled to challenge the result of the test. Having failed to do that, it can only be accurately inferred that the result of the test is accurate and acceptable to all and sundry. The burning issue now is: why the sudden and unwarranted attack on the Hotel shortly after the burial? The entire publications smack of a grand conspiracy to drag the good name of the Hotel in the mud. but the Hotel will not rest on its oars until the truth is told as it, indeed, happened.

It is indeed advisable for newspaper columnists to take time to verify their facts before rushing to the Press. This will not only embellish the status of the Press as not only a worthy occupier of the 4th Estate of the Realm but further give credence to the belief that there are Media centres whose publications can be relied on at all times.

It is expedient to point out that Jonaith Hotels & Suites is and remains an exquisite world of royalty and ambiance in a very secured environment.

[Ijege Akra writes on behalf of Jonaith Hotels & Suites ]