Details have emerged of how Abdulsalami Ginsau, the Assistant Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress in Kano State, died at Chida Hotels located in Utako District, Abuja, after he was allegedly trapped in a faulty elevator at the hotel’s facility.
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Ginsau, a lawyer, was reported to have died on Friday, March 27, 2026, while in Abuja to arrange accommodation for delegates from Kano State attending the APC national convention.
His body was reportedly discovered the following day after hotel staff began perceiving an offensive odour, prompting a search that led to the grim discovery.
Speaking on the matter, the Kano State Chairman of the APC, Umar Haruna Doguwa, said Ginsau, as the person charged with the duty of arranging accommodation for delegates, arrived in Abuja a day ahead of the convention to make hotel bookings for participants from the state.
Doguwa said the party chieftain, after settling the delegates, lodged at Chida Hotels.
He said they got to know that all was not well when they could not find Ginsau during the convention on Friday, a development that forced them to begin a frantic search for him.
“In the course of their search all over Abuja, they went to the Utako Police Division to report the matter where they were informed that there was an incident that happened at the Chida Hotel which was reported at the station,” Doguwa explained.
He said upon getting to the hotel, they identified the body to be that of the deceased party chieftain.
Doguwa attributed the incident to alleged negligence on the part of the hotel management.
According to him, some other delegates who were in the same hotel with the deceased had earlier raised concern that the lift at the hotel was faulty.
He said the body of the deceased has since been taken for autopsy and that they were awaiting the outcome of the investigation by the police.
He raised concern over the account of the hotel’s management on the incident, urging the police to be thorough in its investigation to unravel what transpired.
When contacted, the Manager of Chida Hotel, Princess Oluchi, said the management would not say anything on the matter as it is currently under investigation by the police.
However, a source at the hotel gave some explanations on what transpired.
According to the source, 150 rooms at the hotel were booked for APC delegates from Kano State who attended the convention in Abuja.
The source, however, said those that eventually turned up at the hotel were over 1,000, thus overwhelming the facilities, with some of the delegates occupying the premises and areas outside the facility.
The source added that while the management tried to raise concern over the large number of the delegates, there was resistance as the coordinators insisted they had fully booked the hotel.
On the incident, the source said one of the hotel’s elevators malfunctioned and was forced open.
The source added that the deceased, who lodged on the third floor, came out of his room and entered into the malfunctioned elevator in the early hours of Friday.
“In the process, the elevator sank with him in it unknown to the hotel’s management,” the source said.
Meanwhile, all the delegates that lodged at the hotel departed for the convention ground without knowing that something untoward had happened.
The source said that it was the following day that the hotel started perceiving an offensive odour and a search began during which the remains of the deceased were discovered.
When Daily Trust visited the Utako Division of the Nigeria Police, the Divisional Police Officer in charge said only the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, could speak on the matter.
When contacted, the FCT PPRO asked the reporter to call back as she was anchoring a programme at the time. Efforts to reach out to her later proved abortive as she did not respond to calls.
However, a police source at the Utako Division confirmed that the incident happened at Chida Hotels and it was reported at the division.
The source said that Chida Hotels management reported the incident at the Utako divisional headquarters on Saturday, March 28, and that the matter is currently under investigation.
“Chida Hotels came to report that there was an incident and we are investigating it. The ongoing autopsy is part of the investigation. The division is actively investigating the matter,” the source said.
The Kano State chapter of the All Progressives Congress has called for an investigation into the incident.
The state secretary of the party, Auwal Soja Sani Mainagge, said the deceased had travelled to Abuja in good health but was later found dead.
“He was with us in Abuja and was in good condition, but he did not attend the event we went for. That was when we started searching for him, and he was later found dead,” Sani said.
He disclosed that the party had contacted the family of the deceased and constituted a committee at the state level to investigate the incident in collaboration with security agencies.
Sani added that the Kano State Government had also reached out to the family and was working to uncover the circumstances surrounding the death.
Speaking on behalf of the family, a guardian to the deceased, Hamza Haladu, described the development as shocking, stressing that the lawyer was full of life before his trip.
“He was a very healthy and energetic person when he travelled. The news of his death came as a complete shock to us,” he said.
Haladu noted that the state government had intervened, with the governor assuring the family that no stone would be left unturned in determining the cause of death.
He added that the deceased would be buried on Thursday in Kano in accordance with Islamic rites.
Ginsau was a prominent lawyer, corporate executive, and party stalwart who was recently elected as APC Organising Secretary in Kano State.
He served as Chief Executive Officer of Ginsau & Sons and practised law with Ginsau & Co. Advocates. He was widely respected for his expertise in corporate and commercial law.
He also held a litigation role with H.H. Karkasara & Co., where he specialised in property, tax, and intellectual property cases.
Educated at the Islamic University in Uganda and the Nigerian Law School in Abuja, Ginsau built a career that spanned business leadership and legal advocacy.
His areas of practice included labour law, corporate advisory, estate litigation, and family law.
Within the APC, he was regarded as a chieftain whose influence extended beyond the courtroom into political strategy and governance.
He is survived by two wives and two children.
Speak Out for Justice Advocacy Ltd/Gte (SOJA), a human rights organisation, has condemned the death, describing it as “tragic and avoidable.”
In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Hameed Ajibola Jimoh, Esq., SOJA called for urgent safety regulations and accountability, noting that the incident raises serious questions about building safety standards, emergency response systems, and regulatory compliance in Nigeria’s hospitality sector.
The organisation called on relevant authorities to develop and enforce comprehensive national regulations on elevator safety and building maintenance, and to criminalise gross negligence in the installation, maintenance, and operation of elevators and similar life-dependent infrastructure.
The death of Barrister Abdulsalami Ginsau in a hotel elevator in Nigeria’s capital city exposes critical gaps in safety compliance and enforcement in the hospitality industry.
The incident raises troubling questions:
- Why was a faulty elevator still in operation despite reported concerns from guests?
- Why did it take a day and the perception of an offensive odour before a search was conducted?
- What emergency protocols, if any, were in place at the hotel?
For the family and colleagues of Ginsau, who had travelled to Abuja in good health to serve his party, the manner of his death represents a preventable tragedy.
The ongoing police investigation and autopsy will be crucial in determining the exact cause of death and whether negligence played a role.
As calls mount for stricter elevator safety regulations, the Ginsau case may serve as a catalyst for reform — if authorities take the necessary steps to ensure that no Nigerian loses their life in such a preventable manner again.
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