THE management of Hotel Royal Damgrete, Umuahia, Abia State capital has alleged that some military personnel killed its F&B Manager, Mr Achimugu James Etubi.
It will be recalled that an Air Force Tarmac Four Cadet identified as Emmanuel Chidiebere Onyeomereneche with registration number NDA 13257 lost his life in the hotel last Tuesday, months before he graduated from the National Defence Academy where he was a student.
He died in the swimming pool of Damgrete Hotel under controversial circumstances.
An account has it that he had intentionally dived into the swimming pool with his trunk to swim during a hangout with his friends.
However, in an ostensible move to avenge the death of their colleague, some military personnel in the state arrested some staff members of the hotel and took them for interrogation.
In an interview in Umuahia, Dr. Steve Ihedigbo, Chairman/CEO of Hotel Royal Damgrete, said after the interrogation of three of the hotel staff members including Mr. Etibu, a senior female military police officer ordered a corporal punishment of his staff.
According to him, when the swimming pool victim was rescued, there was nothing to suggest that he drowned, saying his stomach was flat and water was not found in his system.
While suspecting foul play, the Chairman alleged that one of the Cadet officers who had visited the hotel along with the late Onyeomereneche when the incident happened was brought before the military as a prime suspect.
He however expressed surprise that during the corporal punishment, he, the alleged prime suspect, was among those detailed to beat his staff members, alleging that during the punishment, he (the prime suspect) personally hit the F&B manager on his head to ensure he dies, apparently to conceal the circumstances behind the death of Onyeomereneche. 
According to Dr Ihedigbo, the late F&B manager was at the scene when everything happened and was in a pole position to give testimony on what led to the death of Onyeomereneche, insisting that the colleague of the deceased Cadet has a question to answer.
On where the diver of the hotel was when the incident happened, the chairman said he (the diver) closed at 6 pm before the late Onyeomereneche and his friends visited the hotel.
He insists that his staffers and the hotel are not complicit, urging a thorough investigation into the death of the late Cadet.
Meanwhile, The Nigerian military on Sunday said it has arrested personnel involved in the interrogation process that led to the death of Achimugu James Etubi, section manager of Hotel Royal Damgrete, Umuahia, Abia State.
The military announced that a preliminary investigation is ongoing to ascertain the actual cause of Etubi’s death.
Eighteen-Eleven Media