Police: How Chidinma stabbed Ataga to death

A police officer identified as Olusegun Bamidele says Chidinma Ojukwu‘s cloths were stained with blood the day Usifo Ataga, Super TV CEO, died.

Bamidele, who is the ninth prosecution witness, told the court that the defendant confessed to committing the crime during interrogation.

Chidinma is standing trial for the alleged murder of Ataga who died on June 15, 2021.

She is charged with murder, stealing, and forgery alongside Chioma Egbuchu, her sister, and one Adedapo Quadri.

Bamidele testified on Tuesday before a Lagos state high court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS).

The officer, who is a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) serving with the homicide unit of the state criminal Investigating department (SCID) Yaba, was led in evidence by Adenike Oluwafemi, the Lagos state deputy director of public prosecution.

He said the cloth worn by the University of Lagos (UNILAG) undergraduate on the day Ataga was killed was discovered during a search at her residence.

“After we tracked her to her home in Alagomeji and brought her to the DCP’s office, she was asked about her relationship with the deceased,” he said.

“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 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.”

The search, the officer said, yielded a maroon-coloured cloth worn by Chidinma the day Ataga was killed.

“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,” he added.

“We also recovered the black/blue long-sleeved gown she wore when she left the apartment in Lekki. This further established that she has something to do with the deceased.”

The policeman said Chidinma recollected that she made a call to Adedapo Quadri, the second defendant, who helped her source hard drugs which she and Ataga smoked.

Bamidele also said while questioning Chidinma and recording her statement, she said: “She knew the deceased, that they met at a hangout in Victoria Island. The deceased was introduced to her by her friend’s boyfriend. She mentioned the friend as Fiyin and the boyfriend as Tony. She said the relationship started in February and after a while, they developed sexual relations.

“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 the apartment.

“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 the film, and conversed leading up to sex. They also engaged in smoking. On the 14th, they did the same thing.

“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 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.

“She described Adedapo Quadri as someone introduced to her by a friend. That Dapo supplied the drugs to her. The IPO asked her about 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.

“She said on the 15th, after engaging in smoking, the deceased asked for more sex, which she denied him. The deceased went to the chair to relax and she thought he was no more interested in sex, only for him to return to the bed to ask for more sex. She said she pushed him away, which resulted in him knocking her head against a stool that had a glass.

“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.”

The case was adjourned till May 12.

Ataga was stabbed to death and left in the pool of his own blood inside a Lagos hotel.

Chidinma was thereafter arrested in connection with the murder.

The student had earlier confessed to stabbing Ataga “twice on the neck side.”

But in a dramatic twist, Chidinma denied her initial confession that she killed the Super TV CEO.