The Lagos High Court on Tuesday continued the trial of Chidinma Ojukwa at the Tafawa Balewa Square for the alleged killing of Super TV boss Usifo Ataga. On October 12, 2021, Ojukwu, an undergraduate student at Arko Kalagosa University, was charged with nine counts in connection with Ataga’s alleged murder, along with Adedapo Kwadri and Chioma Egbucha.
The court continued to watch the recorded video footage of Ojukwu’s confession before Justice Jetunde Adesanya. In the video, she said she did not know who killed the deceased as she was out of the house on the day of the incident. She said she saw Ataga on the floor when she returned, immediately packed up, and left because she was scared.
On the latest cutoff date, October 11, 2022, footage was shown of Ataga’s lifeless body. Part of the video also shows Ojukwu confessing that she killed the dead herself. In the video aired on Tuesday, Ojukwu was asked why she denied knowing the deceased during interrogation.
She said she didn’t deny knowing him, but she didn’t kill him. Ojuku said: “I don’t know what came in after I left the room. When I came back, I saw that he was bleeding. I had to go because I was scared. I didn’t kill him. I don’t know who killed him. ”
She said that when she saw the deceased in a pool of blood, she was unable to call for help because she was scared, adding that she also collected the deceased’s two iPhones and a Macbook, which were his belongings, before he left. She also said that the deceased ordered a lot of smoke and rophynol.
Prosecutor Yusuf Sule called the ninth witness, DSP Olusegun Bamidele, who explained how the handwritten statement of the first accused was taken and how the other accused were arrested. Bamidele said: “She started to write herself, but as her handwriting was not qualified, I told her to be clear or in capital letters.
That’s when she told me to write to her, and she confessed that she had killed the deceased. “She also mentioned how she killed Michael Usifo Ataga and left with a knife, a mobile phone, and a MacBook. We used her laptop to take the first accused to Computer Village, and we found the phone center.
One Yomi confirmed that transactions between his colleagues and Ojukwu took place through a laptop, Bamidele said. He says, “As the MacBook was recovered, Ojukwu admitted that she had sold the laptop to them.
We went through her call logs and found frequent calls between June 15, 17, 18, and 21, call records that led to the arrest of the other accused. He threw the phone out the window and tried to jump out before being arrested.”
Witnesses said four other mobile phones were recovered from the second accused, who explained how he knew Ojukwu. Bamidele also said the second accused revealed how Ojukwu repeatedly asked him to get her big smoke and Rophynol and deliver them to Leki.
The third accused was arrested with the help of Chidinma’s adoptive father, Onoh Ojukwu, and their uncle, Obi, as well as their mother, witnesses said. The hearing of the case was postponed to October 20 to allow time to continue the hearing.