Chidinma Ojukwu, a former University of Lagos student, on Tuesday told the Lagos State High Court that all the statements she made to police during interrogation over the death of Super TV CEO, Michael Usifo Ataga, were false and made under pressure from investigators.
Testifying before Justice Yetunde Adesanya at the court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, Chidinma said she was unable to speak freely during police interrogations due to intimidation by the Investigating Police Officer, Mr. Bamidele, and his team.
“Because of the fear that the Investigating Police Officer, Mr. Bamidele, and his team put in me, I couldn’t say anything contrary to the narration he asked me to tell the Commissioner of Police,” she said in court.
Chidinma, alongside Adedapo Quadri and her sister Chioma Egbuchu, is facing trial on charges of murder, stealing, and forgery. They were arraigned on a nine-count charge on October 12, 2021. She began her defence on April 17, 2025.
She recounted that after her arrest on June 23, 2021, she was taken into custody and interrogated. According to her, the IPO collected her phone, asked for her password, searched her contacts for her sister’s name, and wrote it down. He then questioned her about her laptop and why she had gone to Computer Village. She said she told him she went to repair a laptop and had sold another, a MacBook, to a phone vendor. The officer asked for the vendor’s address and wrote it down.
She said Bamidele questioned her about cannabis allegedly smoked with Ataga. “He asked where I got the cannabis from. I said I have someone who supplies me. He asked who, I said Quadri. He asked for his number, I said it was on my phone, and he wrote it down.”
Regarding allegations of theft, she said the IPO confronted her about money withdrawn using Ataga’s ATM card. “He said N5m had been withdrawn and another N20,000 withdrawn a few times, totalling N5,380,000. I said, ‘Sir, I don’t know anything about it.’”
Chidinma said she was then asked to write her statement, but when she refused and insisted on the presence of her lawyer, she was slapped. “I said, ‘Sir, I’ve written my statement and you tore it. Now you want me to write another one and my lawyer is not here.’ Then I got a slap on the back,” she said.
She told the court that as she tried to write, her hands shook, prompting Bamidele to take over. “He collected the pen and said I was too slow. Then he started asking questions about my name, age, address, school, and state of origin. After that, he stopped asking and started writing the statement himself.”
After completing the statement, he asked her to read it. “I said, ‘Sir, your handwriting is illegible, I can’t read it.’ He read it to me. I said, ‘Sir, these allegations are all false.’ He said, ‘That will be your story, better comply.’”
Chidinma added that she was handcuffed to a chair and left overnight. The following morning, on June 24, 2021, another officer, Chris, joined Bamidele and they prepared her to repeat the statement. She said she was warned not to deviate from the story.
“He said, ‘Listen to me carefully, do not say otherwise to the CP if you love your life.’” She recounted that she complied when she met with the Commissioner of Police and was asked to repeat the account given to her.
She said her father was also brought in and asked to confirm her identity. “Mr. Bamidele told me some journalists would be asking questions and I should stick to the narration. He took me to an open field and in less than a minute, people flooded around me with cameras. I answered their questions based on his instructions.”
Chidinma also testified that back at the station, Bamidele recorded a video of her repeating the same narrative. When she said she was tired and had a headache, another officer allowed her a short rest. Afterwards, a female officer applied concealer to her face before they resumed recording. “We made videos several times until he found the one he liked, and then I was taken to the cell,” she said.
Later that evening, she said Officer Oseni took her to a different office where two female officers, Ms. Funke and Ms. Bola, ordered her to write another statement. “I said there was already one. Funke told me to shut up and sit down. She brought a black file and a blank paper.”
The trial continues.
