ATAGA’S MURDER: “Police forced me to sign a statement they wrote”, says Chidinma
Chidinma Ojukwu, the murder suspect of Super TV Chief Executive Officer, Usifo Ataga, has alleged that she was forced by the police to sign a statement they wrote.
Chidinma made the claim while appearing before a Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square on Thursday, November 17.
The former 300-level Mass Communication undergraduate of the University of Lagos who is standing trial alongside one Adedapo Quadri and her sister, Chioma Egbuchu, claimed that the two statements she wrote were torn and she was forced to sign the one allegedly written by ASP Olusegun Bamidele.
Asides from being forced to sign another statement allegedly dictated to her by officer Olufunke Madeyinlo, the murder suspect also claimed that Bamidele asked her to rehearse the statement and narrate it to the Commissioner of Police.
She further alleged that before being taken to the CP’s office at Ikeja, her hands were handcuffed to the chair she sat from June 23 till the next morning on June 24, 2021.
Recounting how her ordeal in the hands of the police began, Chidinma disclosed that she was in her room at their house, at No. 47 Akinwunmi St., Alagomeji Yaba, on June 23, 2021, when her 10-year-old little sister informed her that there were men at the sitting room asking after her.
She said after coming to the sitting room to see them, they asked if she was Chidinma and she answered yes. They reportedly asked her the whereabouts of Mr Ataga’s phone and the Range Rover jeep and she said she did not know.
Chidinma said when the police arrested her, she asked her father to call their family lawyer, Mr Onwuka Egwu.
She said that she was taken to DCP Razak Oseni’s office where police officers asked her a lot of questions.
The former undergraduate said; “We went back to my house and back to the DCP’s office.
“At DCP’s office, he asked me questions. I told him that I don’t know anything 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. IPO Bamidele, therefore, took me to the interrogating room with Mr Chris, and gave me a blank statement form and asked me to write.”
