CHUKWUMA (not real name) was considered by his friends as a ‘big boy'.  After having recently got a new job with a telecommunications company in Lagos, which saw him change his old rickety Datsun car to a flashy pre-owned Honda Accord 2005 model  after just six months on his new job, life was looking good for him. To ‘test' his new ride, he decided to drive it to Ilorin, the Kwara State capital and visit his girlfriend at the University of Ilorin. His journey to Kwara State was smooth and uneventful and Chukuma was quite impressed with his acquisition. On getting to Ilorin, he lodged into a hotel and placed a call to his girlfriend to meet him there.

However, his trip would not end on a blissful note as at exactly midnight, just after he and his girlfriend settled down to sleep, a team of crack detectives and mobile policemen burst into his room, ordering them to surrender their room and possessions for a search. After searching Chukwuma's car and belongings and nothing incriminating was found, he was about heaving a sigh of relief when one of the policemen rushed out of the hotel and ordered his arrest. Thus began an ordeal which he (Chukwuma) would never forget throughout his lifetime.

Recounting his experience, he said, "I had led two of the policemen to search my car where it was parked, leaving my girlfriend with the other security operatives in the room. After searching the car and finding nothing incriminating, the policemen were still consulting with themselves on what to do next when one of policemen who we had left behind in the room rushed to the car park, shouting that they had found something in my room. On getting back to my room, I met my girlfriend handcuffed and crying uncontrollably. I was ordered to lift the mattress on which I and my girlfriend had laid and upon doing so, to my utmost surprise, I discovered and counted 11 nylons containing a white substance later discovered to be cocaine.

We were arrested and transferred to a cell where I was charged with possession and dealing in illicit drugs. I was in police custody for three months until God saved me, after police investigations revealed the original culprits, who had bribed a hotel attendant to help hide their stash of cocaine in different rooms to avoid being caught with it."

Many innocent Nigerians have found themselves in Chukwuma's shoes and  police raids are becoming a regular occurrence in many hotels in Nigeria today. Not many Nigerians, when booking a room in an hotel, bother to take time to check the rooms. After settling the room bill, they just dump their luggage in the rooms and settle in. This behavior, according to a security operative, Titus Chike, is one that needs to be reviewed.

Nigerian Tribune investigations have revealed that not only illicit drugs are found, but guns, money and in recent times, human parts. Robbers have also become regular visitors to hotels, especially where such hotels are isolated, dispossessing victims of their belongings and in some cases, raping some of them.

On June 24, 2013, some gunmen struck at a popular hotel in Ajao Estate, Lagos State and carted away millions of naira and dollars belonging to the management and lodgers in the hotel.

It was gathered that the operation lasted more than two hours and the victims were lodgers in the hotel who had just returned to the country as well as foreigners.

It was learnt that the robbers only stole money in the local and foreign currencies from the victims while their belongings were not touched.  The incident, according to reports, raised suspicion that the robbery was the work of an insider in the hotel or the residents of the area.

Also, recently, in a room close to the office of the owner of a hotel in Onitsha, two decomposing human heads were found by the Anambra State Police Command.

According to reports, following a tip off, the police had invaded and searched every room in the hotel and in the course of the search, found the decomposing human heads in an empty room. Also recovered were two AK47 riffles with loaded magazines and a military cap.

Contacted about the military cap, it was reported that the commander, 302 Artillery Cantonment Onitsha, Colonel T.A. Gagariga, had stressed that the recovery of the military regalia did not mean that soldiers might have been involved as such regalia could be procured in the market. The hotel was later allegedly demolished by the state government.

There have also been cases whereby large sums of fake currencies were hidden in rooms occupied by unsuspecting lodgers. 
Gabriel Ahmed, a receptionist in a hotel in Ibadan, in a chat with Nigerian Tribune, said that it was necessary that lodgers inspect the rooms they are allocated, not minding whether the hotel was seen as credible or not.

"Many people just assume that the hotels are okay and can't wait to let the attendant out of the room so that they can settle in. It is important to, in the presence of the attendant, check under all spaces in the allocated room before settling in. There have been cases where some evil elements, not wanting to be caught, would engage hotel attendants to help them store various illegal items in public places, especially hotels and leave them there for some time.

"Other times, they are the ones that tip off policemen who conduct raids and arrest innocent citizens so that the police would assume that the actual culprits had been apprehended," he said.

Some security agents had also cautioned against the patronising of prostitutes by lodgers as some prostitutes had been known to possess illegal substances and use hotels or clubs as ‘harbour points'.

They advised that patrons of hotels, especially those who have little knowledge of the places, should be very wary of the surroundings and should be very cautious.

They stressed that intending lodgers must pick hotels with pedigree and which are not isolated, question staff on hotel security, inspect and check under mattresses and every space in the presence of hotel staff and always lock their rooms at all times.