Who was Matthew Uwuigbe, AAU lecturer who died in Ekpoma hotel after encounter with 21-year-old woman?

Police said he was with 21-year-old Angela Defa Jacob before he was found dead in a hotel room.

The woman, hotel owner and manager were arrested while police investigate the circumstances of his death.

Dr Matthew Uwuigbe was a senior academic staff member of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, whose death in a hotel has raised questions about what happened during his final hours.

Uwuigbe, who was in his 50s according to several reports, was a lecturer in the Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science at AAU, with academic records linking him specifically to the university’s Department of Histopathology.

His name also appears on a 2025 research paper examining the histological effects of an antidiabetic herbal tea on the kidneys and spleens of laboratory rats. The paper listed his affiliation as the Department of Histopathology, Faculty of Medical Laboratory Science, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma.

But Uwuigbe’s academic career has now been overshadowed by the circumstances surrounding his death.

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He was found dead in a hotel room in the Mosco area of Ekpoma, the headquarters of Esan West Local Government Area, after spending time with a 21-year-old woman identified by the Edo State Police Command as Angela Defa Jacob.

According to police spokesperson Eno Ikoedem, Uwuigbe lodged at the hotel and engaged Jacob, whom the police described as a commercial sex worker.

Edo police spokesperson Eno Ikoedem. Ikoedem said the lecturer later sent Jacob out to buy water. When she returned, she found Uwuigbe lying dead inside the room.

“On October 5, 2026, at about 8 pm, the command received a report that Matthew Uwuigbe, a lecturer at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, had lodged at a hotel in Ekpoma and engaged the services of a 21-year-old sex worker, Angela Defa Jacob,” Ikoedem said.

“He subsequently sent the woman to purchase water for him, and upon her return, she found him lying dead in the room.”

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The incident was reported to the police at about 8 p.m. on October 5, 2026, according to the command.

Some reports said Uwuigbe allegedly collapsed in the room after an encounter with Jacob, with PUNCH describing the incident as occurring after an alleged sexual encounter.

However, the police have not publicly established that the encounter caused his death.

Following the discovery of the lecturer’s body, police arrested Jacob, the hotel owner and the hotel manager. The three were taken into custody while detectives investigated the circumstances surrounding Uwuigbe’s death.

His remains were deposited at the Oriaifo Memorial Hospital Mortuary pending further investigation and medical examination.

AAU confirmed Uwuigbe was a member of its academic staff but stressed that the incident occurred outside the university.

The university’s Public Relations Officer, Otunba Mike Ade Aladenika, said the circumstances surrounding Uwuigbe’s death were part of his private life and were not connected to the university’s activities.

AAU Public Relations Officer, Otunba Mike Ade Aladenika. “We are not denying that he is our staff, but whatever he did and what happened, it is his private life,” Aladenika said.

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He also clarified that Jacob was not an AAU student and that the incident did not take place on the university campus.

Uwuigbe’s death has also left his family, colleagues and students mourning. AAU Online News described his death as a painful loss to the university community and extended condolences to his family, colleagues, students, friends and other loved ones.

No member of Uwuigbe’s immediate family has publicly commented on the circumstances of his death in the reports reviewed so far.

The police have not accused Jacob, the hotel owner or the manager of causing Uwuigbe’s death, and no cause of death has been publicly announced.

The investigation is expected to establish what happened inside the hotel room before Uwuigbe was found dead and whether any criminal offence was committed.