ABUJA, Nigeria – New and harrowing details have emerged regarding the death of Barrister Abdulsalami Ginsau, the Assistant Organising Secretary of the Kano APC, who met a tragic end at the Chida International Hotel in Utako.
What was supposed to be a standard political trip for the party’s national convention turned into a scene from a nightmare when Ginsau stepped into an empty elevator shaft and plummeted several floors to his death.
The “Empty Shaft” Trap
Forget the initial rumours of suffocation inside a stalled lift; the reality is much more chilling. Around 6:30 am on Friday, Ginsau reportedly walked out of his room on the third floor, expecting the elevator to be waiting. Instead, he stepped into thin air.
Investigative reports and CCTV footage suggest the elevator car wasn’t even on his floor. Because of a mechanical failure—allegedly caused by “over-ambitious” delegates who had previously crammed 14 people into an 8-person lift—the doors opened despite the car being elsewhere. Ginsau walked straight into the dark void and hit the pit below.
The “Offensive Odour” Discovery
In a display of world-class negligence, Ginsau’s body wasn’t discovered immediately. It took nearly 24 hours for hotel staff and guests to follow an “offensive odour” to the bottom of the elevator shaft.
Even more disturbing? Two young men seen on CCTV in the hallway reportedly watched him fall and then… just walked away. No alarm, no phone call, no “hey, a guy just disappeared into the floor.” They simply checked out and vanished, leaving the APC chieftain to be found a day later.
Pathetic and Preventable
The death has sparked a firestorm of criticism, with former Senator Shehu Sani calling the incident “pathetic” and “disturbing.” Critics are asking how a major hotel in the heart of the FCT could have such a lethal safety lapse without a single “Out of Order” sign or a functioning sensor.
Investigation or Cover-up?
The Utako Police Division has since moved in, conducting forensics and hauling away the remains. While the hotel management has offered the usual “thoughts and prayers” to the Kano State Government, the public isn’t buying it.
Ginsau, a legal practitioner who had been in his party position for only 28 days, is being mourned in Kano as a rising star whose life was cut short by a combination of faulty machinery and human indifference.
