BY FOLASHADE KEHINDE
THE Lagos State Police Command, on Thursday, arrested a student of the University of Lagos, identified as Chidinma Adaora Ojukwu, for the alleged murder of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, in the Lekki area of the state.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Hakeem Odumosu, confirmed that Chidinma, said to be a 21-year-old undergraduate of UNILAG, had confessed to committing the crime.
Consequently, she was paraded at the police command headquarters in Ikeja on Thursday.
The suspect, a 300 level Mass Communication student, was paraded by the Commissioner nine days after Atage was murdered in cold blood at a Short Service Apartment, situated at 19, Adewale Oshin Street, Lekki, Phase 1, Lagos.
The owner of the apartment was also arrested.
Ojukwu, according to Odumosu, was apprehended at her parent’s residence in Yaba, Lagos, on Wednesday night, following painstaking investigation.
Ataga had been reported missing by his family only for his body to be discovered in the apartment with multiple stab injuries.
In an interview with journalists, Chidinma said she had known the deceased for four months.
She said, “We used to meet at his residence in VGC but that day, he said he was doing maintenance in the house and opted that we meet at an apartment.
“I went online to search for the apartment and went there to do physical inspection. I got to the hotel around 6pm and he came about an hour.
“We were having fun; drinking, smoking and taking drugs. On Monday, we were together, drinking and smoking. We smoked SK and Loud. We had fun and so I went to get food for both of us and then on Tuesday, he was trying to make advances and I told him I was tired. I was already sleepy then he became violent on me and he got his way and I let him.
“Then towards afternoon, we ordered for smoke and I wasn’t happy with the first one that he did so I was still on my own just smoking and drinking with my food. He too was on his own on the couch so he came onto me while we were both watching movie and I told him I was not happy with what he did. I told him he didn’t help me or assist in anything but yet he keeps playing me around and then he gave me his ATM card to go and withdraw whatever I want and told me his pin.
“I was like that’s not what I meant so he became violent trying to get to me and I was resisting and defending myself and at some point he hit my head on the wall, I was struggling to go out but he was stopping me. He even locked the door and he was with the key. I didn’t know where he kept it, so when I get the door he would draw me back and I also retaliated.
“At some point, he was choking me while I was on the kitchen cabinet and then I stretched out to the knife and stabbed his neck twice. When I stabbed him, I threw the knife on the bed, then he was going for it while I went for it as well. I laid on the bed, that was when he came on me to hold the knife and I managed to stab him in the stomach.”
“When he dragged the knife, he managed to slice my hand and as he was holding it, the knife broke so it slipped from his hand but he was weak and he fell on the floor. While he was lying there, I changed, I looked for the key where he hid and I left the room,” the suspect noted.
Chidinma confessed that she withdrew about N380, 000 from Ataga’s account and that she planned to use it as school fees before she was arrested.
Addressing reporters, the CP said a driver’s licence, complimentary cards, Bank Statement of Account, a Nigerian International Passport with No.B50010434 were retrieved from the suspect.
He said, “A case of murder was transferred from Maroko Division to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti Yaba, for discreet investigation. The fact of the case is that, on June 15, at about 5pm, one Chidimma Adaora Ojukwu, a 300 level, undergraduate of the University of Lagos, Conspired with others, now at Large, allegedly murdered one Michael Usifo Ataga, 50, by stabbing him several times with a sharp object.
“The prime suspect, Chidinma, who had earlier booked for the apartment on June 13, secretly, left the apartment after the deed had been done on June 15, around 5:30pm. The suspect was tracked and arrested in her residence at 57, Akinwunmi Street, Alagomeji, Yaba-Lagos.
“During search, the prime suspect and Mass Communication Student of the University of Lagos, was caught with a blood-soaked cloth, ostensibly worn on the day of the incident. The suspect confessed to have stabbed the deceased with a kitchen knife after a struggle.”
“She further confessed to have taken the knife away while leaving the scene and disposed same in a dust bin at her residence. It has also been revealed that the suspect equally stole the deceased iPhone. Investigation is ongoing to arrest other accomplices. However, the case will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded,” he noted.
