Ondo Vice Principal Missing After Seminar, Police Begin Investigation

Akure—Detectives in Ondo State have begun investigating the disappearance of a secondary school Vice Principal, Olaloye Olatunde, who went missing after attending a seminar in Akure, the state capital. His personal belongings were later found in the hotel room where he had lodged.

Olatunde, Vice Principal of Ipele Community High School in Owo, had travelled to Akure last Sunday to take part in a Child Labour Programme organised by Trace Project Akure in partnership with Charakids Foundation.

According to his wife, Mrs. Adenike Olaloye, he contacted her after checking into a hotel in Alagbaka where other participants were also accommodated.

“We spoke regularly until Wednesday. By Friday, his phone was no longer reachable. The seminar was supposed to end that day, but I never heard from him again. I was the one who arranged his bag before he travelled, and that same bag was later found in his room, already packed without my knowledge,” she said.

His elder brother, Zacheus Olaloye, explained that hotel staff initially claimed all participants had checked out. However, he later found that the bag left behind belonged to his brother, with his clothes and shoes still intact.

Zacheus, a retired civil servant, added that attempts to review the hotel’s CCTV footage were unsuccessful. “They eventually showed us a blurry video of a man leaving the premises, but that was not my brother. The image was not clear at all,” he said, while lamenting that neither the seminar organisers nor the hotel had formally contacted the family.

The family reported the matter to the Zone 17 police headquarters before it was transferred to the state Anti-Kidnapping Squad.

Speaking on the development, the hotel manager, Mr. Kenneth Ekpeyong, said 49 participants initially checked in on August 24, later rising to 58. He added that while some guests left on Friday night after an organised social event, others checked out on Saturday.

A hotel staff member, Mrs. Oluwaseyi Adebayo, said one facilitator had instructed that belongings in Room 305 be cleared, claiming the occupant had travelled to sign teachers’ salary vouchers. “We used the master card to open the room, packed the bag, and documented it. Later we were told it belonged to the vice principal. CCTV showed him on Wednesday and again on Thursday morning when he walked out of the hotel and never returned,” she explained.

Confirming the development, state police spokesperson, Ayanlade Olayinka, said the Anti-Kidnapping Unit had taken over the case. “We call on members of the public to provide any useful information that can assist in unraveling the circumstances of his disappearance,” he stated.