A grieving father, Henry Airenekhuemen, is demanding justice over the mysterious death of his 29-year-old son, Mathias Ihenyen, who reportedly drowned in a swimming pool at Signatious Hotel in the Ajao Estate area of Lagos State.
Airenekhuemen told Punch that his son had attended a pool party on Saturday evening to sell tickets and earn some money. He recalled receiving a call from one of Mathias’ elder brothers that his son had been rushed to Isolo General Hospital and that a family member was urgently needed.
“I was called by one of my son’s elder brothers, who told me that Mattias had been rushed to the Isolo General Hospital and that a family member was needed. When I got to the hospital, I saw my son’s lifeless body in the back seat of the car that brought him,” he narrated.
The father added that a friend of Mathias said the young man had been with a lady, and about five minutes after leaving them, he could not reach Mathias on the phone.
“He said it was while searching for him that he found my son’s body in the swimming pool,” Airenekhuemen said.
Raising doubts about the drowning claim, the father pointed to unusual physical signs on Mathias’ body.
“If he truly drowned, why was his stomach flat instead of being swollen? And why was there foam coming out of his mouth and nose?”
The family immediately reported the incident to the police. Officers visited the hospital, took photographs of the body, and later moved it to the morgue. The police also accompanied the family to the hotel to examine the scene.
Airenekhuemen revealed that three people have been detained so far at the Ajao Estate Police Division.
“The manager who was invited to the station and was asked to provide the CCTV footage, but said he had just started working at the hotel, has been detained. The lady who was with my son was also invited to the station, where she wrote her statement and is currently detained. His friend, who claimed to have found him in the swimming pool, was also detained,” he said.
He also noted that a call from someone claiming to be a hotel staff member and the continuation of the pool party after his son was found dead made the family suspicious.
“Two things that made the d3ath of my son look fishy were that on Sunday, one of my sons, Lucky, got a call from someone who said he was a staff member of the hotel. The person asked him what he wanted to settle the whole issue. Another was that the pool party went on that night despite the fact that my son was found dead in the swimming pool,” he lamented.
The father continues to seek justice as investigations into the circumstances of Mathias’ death remain ongoing.
