Super TV CEO Usifo Ataga's Alleged Killer Chidinma Ojukwu Claims Police Forced Her To Sign Confessional Statements

Alleged Killer Chidinma Ojukwu While testifying in connection with the murder of Usifo Ataga, the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV told a Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square, that the two statements she wrote at the police station were ripped, and she was compelled to sign the ones that the police personnel had written.

As part of a trial within a trial to ascertain the voluntariness of her statements; Chidinma testified before Justice Yetunde.

She claimed that ASP Olusegun Bamidele had written a statement, forced her to recite it aloud; then forced her to recount it to the police commissioner.

Olusegun Bamidele is a Deputy Superintendent of Police assigned to the State Criminal Division’s Homicide Section. He testified as the first witness for the prosecution in the trial within a trial before the court.

Chidinma who testified as the first witness in her own defence said that before she was taken to the Commissioner’s office, her hands were handcuffed from June 23, to the chair she sat until the morning of June 24, when she was brought out of the interrogation room and taken to Ikeja.

Chidinma explained to the court during questioning from her attorney, Mr. Onwuka Egwu, how the police officers arrived at her Yaba home on June 23, 2021. She claimed her 10-year-old sister came to tell her that there were men in the living room inquiring after her while she was in her room at their home  

“At the station, I entered the DCP’s office, Mr. Razak Oseni. He was asking me questions along with other policemen. Then, my Dad came and the DCP told my Dad to stop and allow his men do their job.

“We went back to my house and then came back to the DCP’s office. Thereafter, he started questioning…about the death of Mr. Ataga, that was when they made the video that was played in court.

“The DCP said I should make my statement. Then, the IPO, Mr. Bamidele took me to the interrogating room with Mr. Chris, and then gave me a blank statement form and asked me to write what happened.

“I started writing then he (Bamidele) took my left hand and handcuffed it to the chair. I wrote what I said at the DCP’s office. However, in the middle of writing the statement Mr. Bamidele took the statement from me and read through it and said this is not what happened.

“He tore all the statements I had written and presented another blank statement form. I told him Sir, I was writing the truth and you tore it. He said if I did not comply that my family, my Dad, my 10 year old sister and relative will all be charged for this murder case.

When asked if she could remember some of the questions the IPO had asked her, Chidinma said that she was asked to state her name, where she is from, where she lives, how she met Usifo Ataga, how many days she spent in the apartment and when she left.

She said the handcuffs were removed in the morning of June 24, when Mr. Bamidele and Chris came to ask her to sign the statement.

After her testimony, Justice Adesanya directed the prosecution and the defense to each file their written addresses in the trial within trial, within 14 days.

The court then adjourned the case to January, 11, 2023, for the adoption of final written addresses, in the trial within trial.

From 1st news