Popular hotel in Onitsha known as Upper Class Hotel was recently demolished by the Anambra State government last week after two human skulls were allegedly discovered inside. The hotel, called Upper Class Hotel, is located at 8 Old Market Road, Onitsha and is owned by business man, Mr Bonaventure Mokwe.The human skulls, a male and a female head, were discovered after the Nigerian police raided the hotel following a tip off. Mr Mokwe has been arrested along with 10 other people. However,in a twist, the wife of the owner, Mrs Nkiru Mokwe, a lawyer, has appealed to president Jonathan to save her husband's life claiming he was set up. She said the whole thing was a set up and the human heads planted in the hotel by people who wanted to destroy her husband.
“My husband is being detained in a very dehumanizing condition at SARS, Awkuzu, and the police have denied him access to his lawyer and relations." She said "My husband’s hotel at No 8, Old Market Road, Onitsha which he inherited from his father, Chief G.C Mokwe, has been demolished"
She said her husband was a real estate magnate and there were lots of conflicts over ownership of lands between him and some people which led to his attempted assassination in 2009. She also alleged that the state government was planning to demolish other properties belonging to Mr Mokwe and begged for intervention.
Naijaman believes that the action of the governor is clearly indicative of the decadent leadership existing in the country. Most governors in Nigeria are dictators and have no regard for the rule of law. How would a governor order the destruction of a crime scene? What has happened to the accused given the right to a fair trial in a competent court?As to whether the accused is guilty or not i cannot say, but we should learn to do things right. This is clearly a case of jungle justice.Most times, jungle justice comes counter productive. The allegations of Mrs Mokwe should be investigated and justice should be justly executed and not a rather Gestapo like manner as we are seeing here.I don't support pulling down the hotel,because it is a crime scene,but then again,Nigerian police do not have a forensic team to go through the crime scene and ensure a proper investigation is done. After due process has been exhausted if the man is found guilty,the hotel can be confiscated,this idea of pulling down before investigation is bizarre,brazen,ridiculous and primitive. As a nation we need to rise up and act with some decorum when we conduct business.The governor has no right to demolish the hotel. He took laws into his hands because he have power to. What do we have the court of law in Nigeria for ,are they for decoration? The man still remains an accused until the court proves otherwise!!
Some Naijaman sources claim that they know this place and that it is a seedy place where street urchins,women of easy virtues all hang out but the fact that they found a skull does not mean they'll have to destroy the building...its not like we don't have detectives in the Land.
Other sources have insinuated that the owner of the hotel is a shady dude who indulges in snatching lands and properties from people. He is reputed to be a very rich man,who inherited both his money and property grabbing behavior from his late father but all this means is that we can question his morality not that we should use primitive justice because we do not like someone's way of living. Doing that is clearly a recipe for anarchy. Other people stated that the tip off was from two prostitutes who witnessed the manager picking up two of their colleagues that never returned and their bodies were later discovered in a deep freezer in the hotel. The sad thing is that no one has substantiated this and i am yet to see the so called human head or the deep freezer.
I am surprised you are not concerned for the owner of the head which to me is the first righ trampled upon even if the owner died on his own.
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