Chidinma Booked Apartment Where Ataga Was Killed With Fake Name, Investigation Reveals

A preliminary police report on the alleged murder of Super TV Chief Executive Officer, Usifo Ataga, has shown that the prime suspect, Chidinma Ojukwu, used the name ‘Jewel’ to book the short let apartment on Adebowale Oshin Street, Lekki Phase I, Lagos, where Ataga was killed.

The report also indicated that several calls placed to a phone number with which 21-year-old Ojukwu booked didn’t go through after Ataga’s body was discovered in the room on Wednesday, June 16.

Ojukwu, a 300-level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, had reportedly checked into the service apartment with Ataga to have fun.

What started as an amorous encounter however went awry under the influence of drugs as Ojukwu reportedly stabbed her lover multiple times with a knife.

The young lady, who fled the scene of the crime and withdrew a sum of N380,000 from the victim’s account with his ATM card, was eventually tracked down by the police at her father’s residence on Akinwunmi Street, Alagomeji, Yaba, on Wednesday, June 23.

Chidinma had confessed to the crime while she was being paraded at the state police command headquarters in Ikeja, attributing her action to the influence of hard drugs and alcohol.

Items recovered from the suspect included a Nigerian passport with No B50010434, a fake driving licence bearing ‘Mary Johnson’ with the suspect’s photograph, an Access Bank statement of account slip, a UBA (United Bank for Africa) ATM debit card bearing her name and a UNILAG identity card.

Meanwhile, a report of preliminary investigation into the alleged murder indicated that Ojukwu checked into the hotel using a foreign phone number and a pseudonym identified only as Jewel.

It stated that she invited the late Ataga into the apartment on Tuesday, June 15, while the man was found dead around 1pm the following day by a worker who wanted to clean the room.

The incident was said to have been reported to the police by the operator of the facility, Mrs Nkechi Mogbo.

The report read in part, “Mogbo reported that around 3pm of June 16, 2021, she received a call from her security guard on Adebowale Oshin Street, Lekki Phase I where she has one flat being used as a short let apartment. She further stated that the security man informed her that one Jewel with a foreign phone number who rented the apartment invited one Usifo Ataga to the apartment yesterday (June 15) and that about 1pm of June 16 when the cleaner wanted to clean the room, he discovered that the door had been broken.

“When she (the cleaner) peeped into the room, she discovered that the said Ataga was lying in a pool of blood. All calls put across to the said Jewel to come back to the apartment proved abortive.”

PUNCH