Super TV CEO: Police Forced Me To Sign Statement They Wrote – Chidinma Speaks

Super TV CEO: Police Forced Me To Sign Statement They Wrote – Chidinma Speaks

On Thursday, Chidinma Ojukwu, the alleged murder suspect of Super TV Chief Executive Officer Usifo Ataga, told a Lagos High Court sitting in Tafawa Balewa…

Chidinma Ojukwu, who is accused of killing Super TV Chief Executive Officer Usifo Ataga, testified before a Lagos High Court in Tafawa Balewa Square on Thursday that the statement she gave to police was torn.

Ojukwu provided this testimony during the trial within a trial to help determine if her confession was given voluntarily or was coerced. The former University of Lagos 300-level Mass Communication undergraduate is on trial for the alleged murder of Ataga. She is also accused of stealing and forgery, along with Adedapo Quadri and her sister, Chioma Egbuchu.

During the resumption of the trial, Ojukwu stated that the two statements she wrote were torn and that she was forced to sign the one written by ASP Olusegun Bamidele. She also claimed that she was coerced into signing the document dictated to her by officer Olufunke Madeyinlo.The defendant, who testified as defense witness number one (DW1), told the court that Bamidele asked her to rehearse the statement and tell it to the Commissioner of Police (CP).

Read Also JUST IN: Former Nigerian Minister Is Dead

Ojukwu stated that her hands were handcuffed to the chair she sat in from June 23 to the next morning, June 24, 2021, before she was taken to the CP’s office in Ikeja.Mr Onwunka Egwu, Ojukwu’s counsel, led her in evidence in the trial within a trial.

She told the court that on June 23, 2021, she was in her room at their home at No. 47 Akinwunmi St., Alagomeji Yaba, when her 10-year-old sister informed her that men were looking for her in the sitting room. According to the witness, she went to the sitting room and greeted the men, who then asked if she was Chidinma, to which she replied yes. According to her, the men inquired about Mr. Ataga’s phone and the Range Rover jeep, and she stated that she had no idea.When the police arrested Ojukwu, she asked her father to contact their family lawyer, Mr Onwuka Egwu. She claimed she was taken to DCP Razak Oseni’s office and questioned extensively by police officers.

“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 what happened.

“I started writing, Bamidele took my left hand and handcuffed it to the chair. I wrote what I narrated at the DCP’s office.

“While I was writing, Bamidele took the statement from me, read it and said it was not what happened.

“I told him, sir, what I am writing is what happened. I also told him that I asked my father to call my lawyer, he said my Dad cannot make a call that he was in custody with them. I then started writing the statement.

“When he took the statement from me and said this is not what happened. I told him sir, this is what happened. I received two slaps from the back from Mr Jemiyo.

“Jemiyo and Chris were sitting behind me, the only person facing me was Bamidele. He said, ‘you are going to write the truth’.

“He tore all the statements I had written and presented another blank statement form. I told him, ‘sir, I was writing the truth, you tore it’.

“He said if I do not comply, my family, my Dad, 10-year-old sister and my relatives will be charged with this murder case,” she said.

Read Also Tinubu’s Family Finally Opens Up On Asiwaju’s Background, Age, Health

The defendant described how officer Bamidele pulled out his phone, played a video of the scene at the apartment, and displayed photographs of Mr Ataga’s body.The officer then asked Ojukwu to write, and while she was writing, the officer slapped her and told her she was slow.

The defendant stated that she told the officer she wasn’t feeling well.She claimed that the officer took her statement form, wrote it for her, and handcuffed her hands to the chair.
When the statement was read to her, she told the officer that it was not what happened, but the officer told her, “this is what you are going to say or else your family will be charged.”

“He read the statement to me again and told me to rehearse it, that tomorrow (June 24, 2021), I will take it to the CP’s office and say that’s what happened.“He left me there, it was around midnight”.

She stated that the officers returned the next morning and asked her to sign the statement.During the prosecution’s cross-examination, Oluwafemi, Ojukwu confirmed that she signed the statements.

According to the defendant, the second statement was dictated while the first was written.When asked if she told anyone about being slapped and having her head hit on the table, she said no.”I didn’t report to anyone because there was nobody to report to,” she explained.

Following her testimony in the trial within the trial, the judge gave the prosecution and defense 14 days to file their written addresses in the trial within the trial.As a result, Justice Adesanya adjourned the case until January 11, 2023, to allow for the adoption of final written addresses in the trial within a trial. (NAN)

Get The News When It Drops By Joining Our WhatsApp Group With This Link Below

https://chat.whatsapp.com/J4n5FRDgPYc6Gw0GbMlr1v