Fake NSCDC Officers Rob Lagos Hotel, Hold Guests Hostage
By Trek Africa Newspaper
A terrifying armed robbery unfolded early Sunday morning at Seafortunes Hotels Limited, located on Ago Palace Way in Lagos, when a group of masked men, dressed in Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) uniforms, stormed the premises.
Around 4 a.m., the assailants, armed with sophisticated weapons, rounded up both staff and customers, subjected them to hours of grueling torture, and robbed them of their valuables.
The attackers, who appeared to be a mix of NSCDC impersonators and thugs pretending to be police officers, were specifically looking for the hotel owner.
After failing to locate him, they ransacked the hotel, breaking into rooms and seizing whatever they could. They also removed a giant power generating set from the hotel, using a heavy-duty crane to cart it away.
The hotel’s CEO, Nwukwa Fortune, recounted the horrifying experience, describing how he received a distress call from a customer at 4 a.m. about the armed men’s invasion. “They first asked for me, but when they were told I wasn’t around, they proceeded to dismantle the generator,” he said. “They used a crane to load it onto a truck and fled after holding everyone hostage.”
The hotel’s CCTV footage later revealed that about 30 men were involved in the attack. Around 15 of them wore NSCDC uniforms while the others impersonated policemen to gain access.
Further investigation linked one of the suspects, identified as Nicholas, to a dispute with the hotel’s previous manager. Nicholas had previously sold diesel worth ₦3 million to the former manager, Mr. Ogbonna, who had failed to pay. After Ogbonna’s departure, Nicholas claimed the hotel owed him the money.
Nicholas had previously petitioned the hotel to Area E Police Station over the alleged debt, but when police investigations cleared the hotel, the case was dismissed.
However, six months later, Nicholas and his associates appeared to have taken matters into their own hands, orchestrating the armed attack.
The suspects, who also caused several customers to flee without paying their bills, made off with the generator and its contents before the police arrived. The police from Ago Police Station later apprehended Nicholas, who led them to the location where the stolen generator was hidden. He also revealed the identities of some of the men in the NSCDC uniforms.
When contacted, Seun Abolurin, the NSCDC spokesperson in Lagos, refuted claims that it’s personnel stormed the hotel, suggesting that the impersonators might not have been real NSCDC officers.
Abolurin stated that, “The NSCDC, Lagos State Command, wishes to state categorically and unequivocally, clear that such act is unbelievably evil and can only be perpetrated, by evil doers and men of the underworld. Therefore, they are not members of the NSCDC, Lagos State Command, in any form, way and ramification.”
Lagos State Police Spokesman, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, promised to investigate the matter further, while a source at Ago Police Station confirmed the incident but could not confirm the involvement of actual NSCDC officers.
The shocking incident has raised serious concerns about the safety of businesses and residents in the area, with questions lingering over how impersonators continue to infiltrate security agencies.
