By Ihechinyere Abaribe
The police in Abia on Wednesday confirmed the death of one unidentified man and a woman in a brothel in Umuahia.
The Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Mr Nta Ogbonaya, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia.
He said that the two persons were found dead in the early hours of Wednesday in the brothel located at No. 44 Uyo Street, Umuahia.
“The information we got is that many people died in the brothel but on getting to the place, we found only two lifeless bodies and six other persons who were unconscious.”
He said that the remains of the deceased had been deposited in the mortuary while the unconscious ones, including the manager of the brothel, were taken to the Federal Medical Centre.
He added that the deceased and the six unconscious persons were found in different rooms in the brothel, popularly known as 50-50.
Ogbonnaya, however, said that the cause of the death was still unknown, saying that “an autopsy would be carried out on the deceased to ascertain the cause of their death”.
He advised residents of the area to remain calm, adding that the homicide unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department had commenced investigation into the matter.
Meanwhile, commercial sex workers resident in the brothel and other residents of the street had fled the area for fear of being arrested by the police.
A witness said that the residents of the brothel woke up “running helter-skelter” and screaming that they were attacked by a ghost.
“The ensuing confusion caused stampede among other residents who also joined in scampering for safety,” the witness who pleaded anonymity said.
A married woman had also died sometime in July in a hotel in Ikotun, Lagos State.
The deceased, who was identified only as Iya Ginika, had left home around 9 p.m. on the day, telling her husband that she wanted to visit a friend in the neighbourhood.
Residents said the woman, in her 50s, had claimed that she wanted to collect something from the friend but instead decided to meet her lover in the said hotel where she later died.
