Lagos State Police Command on Thursday paraded 21-year-old undergraduate of the University of Lagos, Chidinma Ojukwu, suspected killer of the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga.
The UNILAG student has allegedly confessed to stabbing to the late CEO to death in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
She was paraded at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja by the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu.
According to the Commissioner, Ojukwu was arrested at her parents’ residence in the Yaba area of the state on Wednesday night.
Ojukwu, a 300-level student of Mass Communication, said she had been in a romantic relationship with 50-year-old Ataga for about four months before the ugly incident occurred on June 15, 2021, at a Short Service Apartment, situated at No 19, Adewale Oshin Street, Lekki, Phase 1, Lagos.
The undergraduate said she and Ataga were “having fun” when an argument broke out and she stabbed him twice.
She said, “We were in the lodge smoking. He was trying to make advances on me. I was tired and he became violent on it. I let him have his way. Towards afternoon, he ordered roofies. We took it together and ate food. He became high. I was still not happy with the first one (sex) that we had, so, I was staying on my own, smoking and drinking. He, too, was on his own.
“He came to me and I was like I am not happy with what he did. I was like, ‘You don’t help me, you don’t assist me with anything, you are just playing with me around’. He was like, ‘Take my ATM and withdraw what you want’.”
Continuing, miss Ojukwu, who appeared to be remorseful, said, “He later became violent trying to get to me and I was resisting and defending myself. At some point, he hit my head on the wall and I also retaliated.
“At some point, he was chasing me around the kitchen cabinet. I took a knife and stabbed his neck. I approached the door and he followed me. I stabbed him twice on the neck side. I threw the knife to the bed and he was going for it but I also went for it. He dragged the knife with me and it broke and he fell on the floor.”
According the account in PUNCH, the undergraduate also disclosed that after stabbing the late CEO, she withdrew N380,000 from his account using his ATM card.
According to PUNCH, the owner of the rented apartment where the tragic incident took place had also been arrested.
Odumosu said Ataga’s accounts had been blocked to prevent further withdrawals by those taking advantage of his untimely death to deplete the accounts.
Lagos CP said that investigation is ongoing, adding that “the case will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded”.
Ataga, who was found dead in his apartment in Banana Island area of the state.
According to Sahara Rporters, Ataga, whose company promises video livestream at zero Internet cost, was found in a pool of his blood in the apartment after days of being incommunicado.
He had checked into the apartment allegedly with a lady, suspected to be his mistress last Sunday.
His wife and children, all resident in Abuja, had been worried about his absence and their inability to get through to him.
After efforts to get across to his office and colleagues proved abortive, security agents tracked him to the Lekki apartment.
The door of the apartment was forced open but only his corpse was found there while his phones, debit cards and other valuables were missing.
He had multiple stab wounds on different parts of his body, according to on-the-spot assessment by police officers.
