The Lagos State Police Command has sealed Signatious Hotel in the Ajao Estate area following the mysterious death of 27-year-old Mattias Airenekhueme, who was found lifeless in the hotel’s swimming pool after a pool party.

Mattias, described by relatives as hardworking and enterprising, had gone to the hotel to sell tickets at the event and earn some income. His father, Henry Airenekhueme, said the family’s ordeal began with a sudden phone call from one of Mattias’ elder brothers, informing him that his son had been rushed to Isolo General Hospital and that a family member was urgently needed.

On getting to the hospital, Henry said he was confronted not with a medical emergency, but with tragedy. His son’s body, he recounted, was lying lifeless in the same vehicle that brought him in, without any sign that doctors had managed to revive him.

According to the grieving father, three people were initially arrested: the hotel manager and two of Mattias’ friends who had been with him at the party. A police source later confirmed that detectives from the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, sealed the hotel as part of an ongoing investigation, and that the organiser of the pool party had also been taken into custody, bringing the number of suspects to four.

Henry said the police had ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but he expressed deep doubts about the claim that his son simply drowned. He said one of Mattias’ friends told the family that they had been sitting together with a lady before he briefly stepped away. When the friend returned a few minutes later, Mattias was gone, though his phone was still plugged in and charging. A search around the premises ended with the discovery of his body in the pool.

The father questioned the drowning narrative, insisting that the physical condition of the body did not align with what he understood of such cases. He also alleged that a man claiming to be a hotel staff member later called the family, asking what it would take to “settle” the matter, and that the pool party continued that same night despite his son’s death.

The incident has intensified public concern over safety standards and emergency procedures at hotels and recreational centres in Lagos, where reports of drownings and other fatalities have become disturbingly frequent.