The Edo State Police Command has arrested three people after a senior lecturer at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Matthew Uwuigbe, was found dead in a hotel room in the town.
According to PM News, Uwuigbe was said to have engaged the services of a 21-year-old sex worker, Angela Defa Jacob, who allegedly accompanied the lecturer to the facility.
Reacting to the incident, the Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Eno Ikoedem, said the lecturer was found lifeless on Monday, October 5, 2026, at a hotel in the Mosco area of Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State.
“On October 5, 2026, at about 8 pm, the command received a report that Matthew Uwuigbe, a lecturer at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, had lodged at a hotel in Ekpoma and engaged the services of a 21-year-old sex worker, Angela Defa Jacob,” Ikoedem said.
The police spokesperson explained that those arrested are the hotel owner, the manager, and a 21-year-old woman identified as Angela Defa Jacob, who was reportedly in the room with the lecturer shortly before his death.
“He subsequently sent the woman to purchase water for him, and upon her return, she found him lying dead in the room,” she said.
The police said investigations were ongoing to determine exactly what happened before he was found dead, noting that Uwuigbe’s remains had been deposited at the Oriaifo Memorial Hospital mortuary.
Meanwhile, Ambrose Alli University confirmed that Uwuigbe was a member of its academic staff.
The university’s Public Relations Officer, Mike Ade Aladenika, said, however, that the incident occurred outside the university and was unrelated to the institution’s official activities.
“We are not denying that he is our staff, but whatever he did and what happened, it is his private life,” Aladenika said.
He also clarified that the woman involved was not an AAU student.
Available academic records identified Uwuigbe’s affiliation as the Department of Histopathology, Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science, Ambrose Alli University, with a few publications establishing his involvement in health-science research.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.