By John Ogunsemore
Chidinma Ojukwu, the prime suspect in the murder of CEO of Super TV, Michael Ataga, on Monday told a Lagos State High Court that she did not report the incident to the police because she feared being wrongly accused of killing him.
Chidinma, a 300-level student of the University of Lagos, is being tried before Justice Yetunde Adesanya at Tafawa Balewa Square on a nine-count charge bordering on culpable homicide, among others.
The defendant was also charged with stealing and forgery alongside one Adedapo Quadri and her sister, Chioma Egbuchu.
The defendants were arraigned on October 12, 2021.
Chidinma opened her defence on April 17, 2025.
Led in evidence by her counsel, Onwuka Egwu, Chidinma told the court on Monday that she had read stories where people who reported crimes ended up being accused.
She said, “I thought of calling the gateman again because I had called him while at the staircase of the apartment, but I ended the call immediately because I was scared.”
Narrating her activities on June 16, 2021, Chidinma said, “I was going through my phone on WhatsApp and noticed that the message I sent to Michael had been read and he appeared online. I called his number several times, but the calls were declined. I became confused.”
Chidinma said she contacted one Abu, who operated the generator and water pump at the short-let, to ask about Michael.
“That man wey I come with, you don see am yesterday?” she said she asked Abu.
He reportedly replied, “I see am yesterday, him drive comot.”
However, Chidinma said she later learnt from the gateman that Ataga’s car remained on the premises.
She said she became even more worried and sent a message to Ataga to ask for forgiveness.
“Judging by what Abu told me, I said to myself, what have I done? I then sent a WhatsApp message to Michael saying, ‘Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to leave you in that state. I was very scared.’ After that, I was blocked from the number and couldn’t reach him again,” she said.
The defendant disclosed that on June 19, 2021, she sent an SMS to Ataga due to poor WhatsApp network delivery.
Chidinma disclosed that she had two laptops, one Macbook and one HP laptop, and on June 18, 2021, she took them to Computer Village, one for sale and the other for repair.
She said upon getting to the vendor’s shop, he requested receipt of the MacBook.
“I said it was a gift from last December 2020, and then the manager entered and asked me to unlock the Macbook laptop so that he could check very well.
“Then I unlocked the laptop, they checked whatever they wanted to check and then asked me how much I wanted to sell. I said N600,000, we negotiated then it got sold for N495,000. He then asked me to sign out of the i-cloud, I signed out and the money was transferred into my bank account, and then I took the HP laptop for repair,” she said.
She further disclosed that she gave her iPhone 7 Plus to her sister, Chioma, on June 22, after Chioma claimed she had misplaced her phone.
Chidinma told the court that she was arrested by four or five policemen on June 23, 2021.
“When I said I didn’t have anything belonging to the deceased, one of the policemen slapped me,” she told the court.
She said her father intervened but he was taken to the police station alongside her.
Chidinma said she was taken to State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Panti and forced to write a statement without legal representation.
Chidinma quoted one Officer Bamidele as saying no lawyer would come to represent her.
She said she immediately got slapped from behind.
The defendant said the officer also threatened her, saying, “If you love your family, you better comply. Otherwise, your dad, your sister, even your 10-year-old sister will be detained too.”
She said she wrote a statement out of fear but the officer called it “nonsense” and tore it.
“He showed me a rope and said I used it to tie Michael. I said, ‘No sir, he is too huge for me to tie,’” she told the court.
Chidinma said officers also brought out her bank documents and ID cards during the investigation.
“When they asked about my UNILAG ID card, I said I am a student of the University of Lagos,” she said.
Justice Adesanya adjourned the case to Tuesday, April 29 for continuation of trial.