A senior lecturer at Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, Dr Matthew Uwuigbe, has died in a hotel room in the Mosco area of Ekpoma, following an encounter with a 21-year-old woman identified by the police as a commercial sex worker.
The incident reportedly occurred on Sunday, October 5, 2026, at a hotel in the Esan West Local Government Area of the state.
According to the Edo State Police Command, Uwuigbe had checked into the hotel and engaged the services of 21-year-old Angela Defa Jacob.
The police said the lecturer later asked Jacob to leave the room to purchase water for him.
However, upon her return, she reportedly found Uwuigbe lying lifeless on the bed and alerted the hotel authorities, after which the incident was reported to the police at about 8pm.
The spokesperson for the Edo State Police Command, Eno Ikoedem, confirmed the development on Tuesday, saying three persons had been taken into custody in connection with the incident.
Ikoedem said, “On October 5, 2026, at about 8pm, 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.
“He subsequently sent the woman to purchase water for him, and upon her return, she found him lying dead in the room.”
She identified those arrested as the hotel owner, the manager and Jacob, adding that detectives had commenced investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding the lecturer’s death.
The police spokesperson further disclosed that Uwuigbe’s remains had been deposited at the Oriaifo Memorial Hospital mortuary for further examination.
Meanwhile, the university confirmed that the deceased was a member of its academic staff but distanced the institution from the circumstances surrounding his death.
The university’s Public Relations Officer, Otunba Mike Ade Aladenika, said the incident occurred outside the university premises and involved people who were not connected with the institution.
“We are not denying that he is our staff, but whatever he did and what happened, it is his private life.
“The girl in question is not our student, and everything happened outside our institution,” he said.
The police have yet to disclose the cause of death, while investigations are ongoing to determine what transpired in the hotel room and whether any criminal offence was committed.
