By Ebenezer Adurokiya, Reporting
ARGUABLY the most sophisticated hotel in town, Azalai Hotel is not only famous but posh and centrally located just a few kilometres from Cotonou airport. As we were ferried to the hotel via a branded white official SUV of ECOWAS, one could sight the artistic wall I earlier cited. We breezed into the hotel and were welcomed by officials of the mission and colleagues already on the ground.
Wisdom and Ebenezer on arrival at Azalai Hotel Cotonou
The trap at Azalai Hotel
Swiftly, we filled in a form, showed the cashiers our international passports, who searched for our names on the list and handed us the keys to our hotel rooms.
Allocated to one of the rooms, by choice and to save some money, my new-found friend and colleague from Lagos, Barrister Wisdom Udo, a lovely Abia indigene, paired in one of the rooms agreed for one night. As we landed in the room via the elevator, we wasted no time taking showers and then finding something to eat. We had not eaten before or after we boarded from Lagos.
With Wisdom on departure day
I have been privileged to lodge in five-star hotels across the Niger Delta and Lagos while plying my journalistic trade in past years. I mean, very palatial hotels in highbrow Lagos, Port Harcourt, Asaba, Warri, etc. One thing I never saw in those sophisticated hotels were traps seemingly set for clients in their rooms. Or maybe I wasn’t observant enough.
Entrance of the hotel room
Amid the hunger ravaging Wisdom and myself, we sighted right on our table in the hotel room, packaged and branded cashew nuts, assorted drinks including beer, and a small bottle of water! The assorted drinks were kept in the refrigerator that was not switched on. The bottled water was on the table with wrapped sugar, coffee, tea, chewing gum, and one other item. The cashew nuts and plantain chips were alluringly placed in a small basket on top of the table. We were not smart enough to detect the price list of these items delicately plastered on the table which rhymed with the colour of the table. But we were not greedy enough to begin devouring them.
The packs of plantain chips and cashew nuts
One reason we conjectured that the items were probably for us was due to the very high cost of the hotel room per night. A whopping over CFA 66,000 for a room per night and because we begged to pair, we were to pay CFA 91,000! We simply, but wrongly, reasoned, but didn’t conclude, that the medemedes were part of the cost of the room. In fact, Evangelist Sunday Egbowon, my brother and friend who chauffeured me to Lagos airport in the morning, while with him on call, agreed that the items were probably part of what we had paid for.
The alakoba assorted drinks
As Wisdom and I continued to unpack our luggage and get across to our families left behind at home, as well as pondering how we could fuel up our famished stomachs, Wisdom suddenly sighted the price list on the table. And the prices were throat-slashing. The cheapest of the items, a piece of chewing gum, was CFA 500! You know your Coca-Cola beverage, average bottle, it’s CFA 2,000. As of that time in Benin Republic, CFA 10,000 went for N25,400.
We both screamed and began to thank our ancestors for baptising us with the spirit of contentment. It isn’t that we wouldn’t be able to pay for the items if we were caught in the trap; the fact remains that there are bills to pay at home with the little logistics allowance we were to be graciously paid by our employer. Wisdom and I laughed over this issue, and it remained a continuous topical issue the following morning when we returned to the reception.
The price list
Perhaps, with this, you’ll agree with our fears and caution. While paying for the night at the reception the following morning, the cashier asked how many of the items we “tampered” with, because he was to factor it into our bill for the night. I laughed and jokingly responded, “Una trap nor catch us!” I also repeated it in English: “Your trap didn’t catch us.” You know what? The young man could not hide his feelings as he burst into laughter!
If you think this was a joking matter, let me tell you that one of our colleagues, who is now a friend and who came from Abuja, fell into the trap. While I will deliberately not mention his name, the Yoruba guy with no guile told us that morning that the drinks lured him, so he grabbed one and gulped it. I think he also dealt with the cashew nuts, about ten pieces or so.
The Lagos crew
Unknown to us, the sumptuous items were from the hotel’s mini-bar and were placed in the rooms as advertisement. You chop am, you don’t chop money be that!
Truth be told, Azalai Hotel, Cotonou, which also served as the secretariat of the ECOWAS Observation Mission to the Benin Republic Presidential Election on April 12, 2026, has top-notch services to render to customers. Their buffet, which we enjoyed on the morning of Friday, April 10, was nothing but superb.
Beninese are good people. Do they take advantage of strangers, especially non-French-speaking folks? This and more you’ll enjoy in the next piece.
To be continued…
Ebenezer Adurokiya was an ECOWAS Observation Mission ad hoc staff member for the last Benin Republic Presidential Election.
