– Hotel Management: We Bear No Hand In His Death
Residents of New Owerri, a suburb of the Imo State capital are presently in shock following the mysterious death of a gateman at a popular hotel in the vicinity (name withheld)1.
It was gathered that the deceased young and energetic man who was on night duty the previous day, was traced by members of his family to the mortuary of the General Hospital, Umuguma, where his corpse was seen. On closer examination, they noticed that his heart had been harvested.
A family source who spoke to our reporter said, the late gateman was healthy and showed no sign of ill health before he left for work at the hotel the previous day. Hence, they were surprised to be informed by his employers the next day that he was dead.
“When we got to the hospital, we noticed that his chest region was stitched while some medical personnel who examined his corpse said that his heart had been harvested. The matter is presently with the police but those involved are offering the family the sum of (#2million) two million Naira to forget the matter and ensure it doesnt go to the press which they believe will tarnish their image and that of the hotel”.
A staff of the hotel who does not want his name mentioned said they heard the sound of gunshot around the gateman’s duty post the night before his corpse was found at the mortuary. According to him, “we heard the sound of gunshot. We came to work the next day and heard that he was dead”.
Effort to reach the Imo State Police Public Relations Officer,Okoye was futile as he did not respond to phone calls.
However the death of the gate man at the popular Owerri hotel has further given credence to the alarm raised by some Imolites about the rate of organ harvesting in the state. The Peoples Democratic Party in a release issued by its State Publicity Secretary, Lancelot Obiaku recently, berated Governor Hope Uzodinma for keeping quiet and doing absolutely nothing about the menace which has become a norm rather than an exception in the state.
Others who spoke in the same vein, said the Governor’s continued absence from the state is affecting governance, hence all kinds of atrocities are being perpetrated.
The most recent incident, according to them, is among the several unreported cases of organ harvesting that have made Imo a horrifying theater of the absurd.
