George Eyo, a retired Rear Admiral of the Nigerian Navy, was caught on camera, assaulting staff members of House 241 Hotel in the Durumi area of Abuja.
He was reportedly accompanied by two fully armed naval personnel.
Newsmen gathered that Eyo also assaulted guests on Saturday night.
The incident began around 10pm when two young men and three young women arrived at the hotel and booked a room.
Initially, all five intended to stay in the room, but the staff of the hotel informed them that only a maximum of three persons per room was allowed.
However, the young men paid for the room and left, leaving the three young women in the room.
Shortly after, George Eyo arrived at the hotel premises with two naval personnel, weapons in hand, and demanded to see the young men and women who had just checked in.
When the staff informed him that the young men had left, Eyo insisted that the young women come downstairs and demanded that the hotel staff produce the young men.
The staff told him they had no way of knowing their whereabouts.
At that point, Rear Admiral Eyo allegedly ordered the two naval personnel to start beating the hotel staff.
In a video obtained by Newsmen shows Eyo himself also joining in the assault on the seemingly innocent workers.
One of the male staff members who was beaten by Eyo and the two naval officers described his ordeal, saying, “They brutalised and tortured me to the point of unconsciousness without any provocation.
“When the beating became unbearable, I tried to call my supervisor on duty. Even as I attempted to leave, Eyo continued harassing and torturing me.”
He added, “When my supervisor arrived, instead of de-escalating the situation, Eyo continued the assault, even on my supervisor. My supervisor had to flee for his safety.”
A female staff member also recounted her traumatic experience, explaining how she was dragged from the kitchen and forced to do frog jumps.
“I was cooking rice in the kitchen when they came back to the basement and dragged me outside. By then, they had already taken the security personnel and receptionist outside the gate, forcing them to do frog jumps. I was also ordered to join them. The man then seized my phone when I asked to call my superiors to inform them of the situation.”
Meanwhile, as the situation escalated, hotel guests attempted to intervene but were reportedly threatened with guns.
A senior hotel staff member, a 58-year-old woman, described how they were marched outside and brutalised for over two hours.
She said, “A man looked at us and said, ‘Who are these people?’ When he was told we were hotel staff, he shouted, ‘Get out, get out! I don’t want to see you!’ I was terrified because I had recently experienced a robbery and didn’t want to go through another traumatic event. I just stepped back.”
After about two hours, the hotel staff were taken to the naval unit in Abuja and detained for another 13 hours.
One of the female staff members who was dragged from the kitchen said, “We sat at the entrance door on the floor from 2am until the next morning before our management arrived.”
A male staff member added, “When we were eventually released, we had to go to the hospital for medical checkups.”
AIT reports that further inquiries from eyewitnesses revealed that the three young women were students of Nile University in Abuja.
They had attended a party at Oman Apartments, where they allegedly consumed brownies laced with drugs and became intoxicated.
However, one of the girls reportedly called a coursemate for help.
The coursemate arrived with another young man and took the girls to the hotel. When one of the girls became frightened, she allegedly called Rear Admiral Eyo, leading to the violent confrontation.
When contacted, the retired admiral declined to comment, stating that the issue had been resolved with the hotel management.
However, the hotel management refuted his claim.
Reacting to the incident, the Nigerian Navy stated that the naval personnel involved had been arrested and that a proper investigation would be conducted.
They assured that the individuals would be tried and punished if found guilty in accordance with military laws and regulations.
The Navy also clarified that the retired admiral was acting in his personal capacity and that his actions did not reflect the values of the Nigerian Navy.
This disturbing incident raises concerns about abuse of power and the mistreatment of civilians by military personnel.
