Details emerged on Monday on how a man died in a fire incident which occurred at Lafia Hotel, in Ilorin, last Thursday.

The fire outbreak occurred at about 23:38 hours at the hotel along Coca-Cola road in the state capital, in an apartment used for short-let purposes.

The unidentified man was burnt beyond recognition according to graphic pictures on the incident.


Details of the incident indicated that the man allegedly lodged in the room of one of the female occupants engaged in commercial sex to probably pass the night.

Findings by THENEWSCREDIT revealed that before the fire outbreak, the lady who went out to buy some items, locked the man inside the room as it was against the rules of the hotel management for women to keep men overnight in the facility.

Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, have commenced investigation into the incident, as all the sex workers have deserted the facility.

The fire incident which was reportedly triggered by power surge involved a building comprising two flats with three bedrooms each, all of which were affected by the fire.

The entire building was heavily engulfed in smoke, making escape extremely difficult for occupants.

According to the spokesman of the state fire service, Hassan Adekunle, “Preliminary investigation revealed that the fire was attributed to a power surge, as the outbreak reportedly occurred immediately after power supply was restored, leading to rapid fire spread across the building.

“Firefighters arrived promptly and brought the fire under control at about 23:51hrs.”