Usifo Ataga: How Chidinma fatally stabbed deceased

Published

2 years ago

May 11, 2022

admin

The trial in the murder of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Mr Ataga, continued on Tuesday at a High Court at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos, with a police officer, Olusegun Bamidele, serving with the homicide department of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Yaba, telling the court how investigations revealed where the late Usifo Ataga and Chidinma Ojukwu might have met before arriving at the crime scene.

“While I was investigating into the background, I and a friend of the deceased went to Angel Villa Hotel in Lekki,” said Mr Bamidele.

“The owner of the hotel was approached and the story was related to him. Luckily the hotel had CCTV which revealed the presence of the deceased and Chidinma at the hotel.

“After we tracked her to her home in Alagomeji (Yaba) and brought her to the DCP’s office, she was asked about her relationship with the deceased. She denied it initially and this prompted us to deploy the CCTV. She then agreed that she is the Chidinma Adaora Ojukwu we were looking for”.

“We then took her in the company of her foster father, one Onoh Ojukwu, back to the house in Alagomeji where we initially arrested her. We conducted a search of the house in their presence”.

According to the officer, the search yielded a maroon-coloured cloth that Ms Ojukwu wore on the day Mr Ataga was murdered.

READ Usifo Ataga: Chidinma recants, says I was forced to sign prepared police statement

“The cloth was stained with blood. Then Onoh Ojukwu shouted: ‘Chidinma, you have killed me, you have done something wrong outside.’

“Chidinma was also crying. We also recovered the black/blue long sleeves gown she wore when she left the apartment in Lekki. This further established that she has something to do with the deceased,” he said.

“We recovered Access bank statements of the deceased, we recovered UBA bank statements with the name Mary Johnson, an ID card with Chidinma’s picture but which carried the name, Mary Johnson. An international passport with her picture, a Uniport certificate with Chidinma’s name boldly written on it, her phone, and some other documents I can’t recollect. We then went back to the office.”

Continuing, he said at the office, he provided Ms Ojukwu with some food, malt drink, and water. She ate it, after which he started to question her and record her statement.

Bamidele said that Ms Ojukwu said that the deceased was introduced to her by a friend at a hangout on Victoria Island and they developed a sexual relationship afterwards.

“I remember she mentioned a date, 12th June 2021. She received a call from the deceased that they needed to see and go out. Based on the request, she sourced for the apartment,” the officer said.

“She confessed that shortly after she arrived at the apartment, on the 13th, the deceased drove in, in his Range Rover. On his arrival, she said they were both hungry and drove out to eat and returned to the apartment, watched a film, and conversed leading up to sex. They also engaged in smoking Loud. On the 14th, they did the same thing.

READ Chidinma recants, says I don’t know who killed Ataga

“She said she initially came in with the Loud smoke. That’s the name she called it. After they finished it, they needed more. She recollected that she made a call to the second defendant, Quadri (Adedapo) who helped her source for the Loud and another drug called Rohypnol. She also mentioned that the items were brought in through a dispatch rider to the apartment.”

According to the police officer, the suspect described Mr Adedapo as her drug supplier.

“The IPO asked her the potency of the drugs. She responded that a tablet is enough to knock out whoever uses it while Loud is a cigarette light smoke,” he added.

Murder
Bamidele said the event leading to the murder occurred when the deceased asked for more sex.

“She said she pushed him away, which resulted in him knocking her head against a stool that had a glass,” he said.

“Having sustained injury on the head and knees, there was a struggle between them and she said she managed to lay hands on a kitchen knife with which she stabbed the deceased on the neck twice. She confessed that she stabbed him severally without counting and the deceased eventually fell to the floor in the room.”

READ Day after Ataga's remains were found, Chidinma called to ask about the Range Rover, guard tells court

The police officer also narrated to the court how Ms Ojukwu met the second defendant, Mr Quadri.

“When we interacted with the first defendant, she mentioned the second defendant, Quadri, and how they met,” he said.

“On the premise of this, we searched the call logs of the 1st defendant since she said she doesn’t know his house or address. The call log showed regular calls between both of them.

He said they traced and arrested the second defendant in Surulere.

“During their interactions, he agreed to the request of Chidinma to assist her with preparing certain documents. The documents he assisted her to procure are a driver’s licence, an identity card, a UBA statement of accounts, an Access bank statement of accounts, and a passport.

“The UBA statement of account carried the name Mary Johnson while the Access bank statement had Michael Usifo Ataga’s name on it.

“The driver’s license has the picture of the first defendant on it with the name, Mary Johnson.” said the witness.

The prosecution lawyer told the court that it wants to make sure the officer gives evidence on all he knows about the case after which they will watch all the CD’s gathered as evidence.

The judge adjourned further proceedings till Thursday.

Politics

No political crisis in Rivers, says Fubara

Published

1 hour ago

May 5, 2024

admin

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has dismissed any notion of political crisis in the oil-rich state, saying his administration has provided focused leadership and governance to the people.

Fubara, who received members of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions at Government House in Port Harcourt on Saturday, said his goal for the Rivers people was delivering good governance.

The governor explained how the pressure from the unwarranted political crisis served as an enabler to strengthen his commitment to service that is now impacting lives positively.

“As far as we are concerned, there are no political issues. I had seen a movie many years ago, entitled, ‘Devil’s Advocate.’ I believe some of you must have seen that movie too,” he stated.

“One of the starring characters: Al Pacino said, that pressure makes some people retreat or fail, and to others, it makes them become focused on succeeding. We have chosen to be focused under this pressure.

READ Ataga and talk of conspiracy theory: We Are Looking Beyond Chidinma —Police

“That is why we are moving ahead. That is why we are making a positive impact on the lives of our people. Governance is about the people. It is not about self.

“Governance is about touching the core needs of those people we are leading, and by the special grace of God, we are doing it.”

Strained Relationship

Rivers State has been embroiled in crisis after a strained relationship between Governor Fubara and his erstwhile political godfather and former governor of the state, Nyesom Wike.

Wike, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), currently serves as a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister under President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

At the height of the crisis last year, 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly dumped the PDP for the APC. The lawmakers, led by the Speaker, are loyal to Wike and accused Governor Fubara of starving them of funds.

READ Guards Brigade troops raid ‘terrorists’ hideouts’ in Abuja, recover eight guns

The lawmakers have also been having a strained relationship with the governor and attempted to impeach him in the heat of the political crisis in the state before President Bola Tinubu intervened and invited the feuding parties to Abuja which gave birth to an eight-point resolution.

NDLEA smashes international drug syndicate, arrests five suspects

Published

5 hours ago

May 5, 2024

admin

An international drug syndicate with networks in parts of Nigeria, South Africa and Thailand has been smashed by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

Also, no fewer than five members of the cartel were arrested in a two-week intelligence led operation in Lagos, Abia and Anambra states following the seizure of their illicit drug consignments at the NAHCO import shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA, Ikeja Lagos.

This was disclosed in a Sunday statement by NDLEA spokesman, Femi Babafemi, saying the unravelling of the drug cartel started on Sunday 20th April when their cargo of four big suitcases arrived at the NAHCO shed on an Air Peace airline flight from Johannesburg, South Africa.

He said that the first suspect, Umeh Chisom Peter was arrested on Wednesday 24th April after he showed up to pick up two of the suitcases containing Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis owned by a Thailand-based member of the syndicate, Obum Michael.

READ Usifo Ataga: Chidinma recants, says I was forced to sign prepared police statement

According to Babafemi, the consignment of four parcels was concealed in false bottoms of the two suitcases, while the four suitcases contain a total of 17.6 kilograms Loud and drug candies.

He said another member of the syndicate, Mrs. Chiwendu Uche Ugbe whose South Africa based husband, Aloytus Uche Ugbe sent some of the consignments, was traced to Anambra state where NDLEA officers arrested her on Saturday 27th April while attempting to collect the drug parcels sent to her by her husband.

Two other suspects: Onyejakor Francis Chimezie and Naaji Valentine Chukwukere, with links to the cartel, were also arrested in parts of Lagos on Monday 29th April.

He stated that their arrest led to another operation in Abia state where Mrs. Chinazo Osigwe was arrested when she was to pick up some of the parcels containing Loud and drug candies sent by her husband, Osigwe Chidiebere Anthony who is equally operating from South Africa.

READ Tafa Balogun for burial today

Metro News

Police arrest 17-year-old, two 18-year-olds, four others for robbery, cultism in Anambra

Published

5 hours ago

May 5, 2024

admin

Operatives of the Anambra State police command have arrested seven suspected cultists terrorising residents of Awka, the state capital.

The police spokesperson in the state, Tochukwu Ikenga, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday night.

Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said the suspects were arrested at about 10 p.m. on Friday.

How they were arrested
The police spokesperson said some police operatives from the Special Anti-Cult Squad were on patrol along UNIZIK Junction in the area on the fateful day.

He said that at the junction, the operatives intercepted a tricycle and arrested five male occupants of the tricycle, including its rider.

“Operatives in a bid to question them, the occupants took to their heels. While the others escaped, Chukwuemka Ozoekwe was arrested,” he said.

Ikenga said Mr Ozoekwe later led the police operatives to their hideout where two other suspects – Chidozie Anagor, 18, and Chukwuemeka Oyeoka, 18 – were arrested.

READ USIFO ATAGA: God knows my son didn’t deserve what those people did to him – Usifo’s grieving mother

“Also during the raid operation in their harbour, the operatives arrested Ebuka Okoye, 17, Olisa Obi, 19, Chidubem Nwakwu, 20, and Nwankwo Kosisochukwu,” he said.

“During interrogation, the suspects confessed to being members of Vipers Cult Group. They are one of the gangs terrorising Awka metropolis recently.

“The suspects also confessed that they were on a mission to rob the road users of their phones and personal belongings before the arrest,” the police spokesperson added.

He said two fleeing suspects – Makuo Nwosu and a yet-to-be-identified male – were declared wanted by the police.

Commissioner speaks
Reacting, the Acting Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Fidelis Ogarabe, charged the operatives to sustain the fight against criminals in the state, Mr Ikenga said.

Mr Ogarabe, the deputy commissioner of police in charge of finance and administration, promised to repay residents of the state for their confidence in the police in the state.

READ Wale Edun to finance ministry staff: We must ensure that Tinubu’s economic reforms are effective

The acting police commissioner directed that all the suspects should be charged in court upon conclusion of investigations.

Background
There have been cult-related attacks and killings in Awka, the Anambra State capital, in recent times.

Several persons were reported killed in cult-related attacks in the last two months in the state capital.