Hotel sacks workers for negligence over Cynthia Udoka Osokogu's murder

The management of Cosmilla Hotel, Lagos, where Miss Cynthia Udoka Osokogu, 24, was recently murdered by a roguish gang, has sacked all the staff of the hotel who were on duty on the day of the murder, accusing them of negligence.

The hotel, which is located at Lake View Estate, Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos State, is said to have a tradition of “proper screening” of its guests at the point of checking-in, by demanding valid identification of prospective guests.

The front-desk staff were said to have breached the established procedure, paving the way for the difficulty in identifying the body of the deceased as her assailants had taken away all items that could assist in identifying her.

The Delta State-born Cynthia was lured from Nasarawa State to the hotel by the duo of Okwumo Echezona Nwabufo and Ezeike Ikechukwu Olisaemeka, both of whom are maternal cousins, on July 22, on the pretext of supplying her goods. But she was later drugged with Rohypnol, raped, robbed and eventually strangled to death.
She will be buried on September 7.

The suspects had different sets of identity cards on them.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, could not confirm the sack, adding that it was the prerogative of the hotel to do what it thought best.

She said: “Although the suspects were lodged in the hotel under fictitious names, the police cannot interfere if the hotel decides to sack them for what it sees as a breach in security procedure. It is their sole prerogative to sack or hire.”