Murder suspect Chidinma Ojukwu has yet again denied killing the Chief Executive Officer of Super Tv, Usifo Ataga, on Tuesday during a live sitting of the Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square.
On October 12, 2021, Ojukwu, a student at the University of Lagos, Akoka, was charged with nine counts in connection with the suspected murder of Ataga alongside Adedapo Quadri and Chioma Egbuchu.
According to The PUNCH, the court continued to watch the recorded video which showed Ojukwu’s confessional statement to Justice Yetunde Adesanya.
In the video, she said that she didn’t know who killed the person because she was out that day.
She claimed that when she returned and saw Ataga on the ground, she was terrified and hurriedly packed her belongings and left.
The video clip, which featured Ataga’s deceased body, was played during the final adjourned date on October 11, 2022.
Ojukwu’s confession, in which she claimed to have killed the deceased on her own, was also included in the film.
In the footage that was shown on Tuesday, Ojukwu was questioned about her denial of knowing the dead.
She claimed that while she didn’t deny knowing him, she didn’t kill him.
Ojukwu said, “I don’t know who came in after I left the room. When I came back, I saw him bleeding. I had to leave because I was scared, I did not kill him, I don’t know who killed him.”
She said that she was too terrified to call for help when she discovered him in a pool of blood, and she also stole the deceased’s two iPhones and Macbook, which were among her belongings before she left.
She added that the Ataga had ordered Rophynol and Loud smoke.
The ninth witness, DSP Olusegun Bamidele, was summoned by the prosecutor, Yusuf Sule, who described how the first defendant’s handwritten statement was obtained and how other defendants were apprehended.
Bamidele said, “She started writing by herself, but because her handwriting wasn’t legible, I told her that she should ensure that her writing was legible or write in capital letters. It was at that point that she said I should write for her and she confessed to killing the deceased.
“She also mentioned how she killed Michael Usifo Ataga and went away with the knife, phones and Macbook laptop. We took the first defendant to Computer Village with her laptop and we located the phone hub.”
Bamidele said one Yomi confirmed that there was a transaction between his colleague and Ojukwu over the laptop.
He said, “That was how the Macbook was recovered and Ojukwu confessed that she was the one who sold the laptop to them. We studied her call logs and noticed that there was a frequent call log between June 15, 17, 18 and 21, which led to the arrest of the 2nd defendant. He threw away his phone through the window and also attempted to jump through the window before he was arrested.”
According to the witness, four other phones were retrieved from the second defendant, who described how he met Ojukwu.
Additionally, Bamidele claimed that the second defendant revealed how Ojukwu had often ordered him to get her loud smoke and rophynol, which he had provided to Lekki.
The witness claimed that the third defendant was apprehended with the assistance of Chidinma’s foster father Onoh Ojukwu, their uncle Obi, and their mother.
The trial was continued after the case was postponed until October 20.
