A Yaba Magistrates’ Court on Monday remanded Chidinma Ojukwu, prime suspect in the murder of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, for 30 days.
Chief Magistrate Adeola Adedayo made the order following an application by police counsel Cyril Ejiofor.
Mrs Adedayo also remanded Ojukwu’s co-defendant Adedapo Quadri on the same terms.
Ejiofor had prayed the court to remand Ojukwu in police custody pending the issuance of a Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) report on the matter.
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“The remand is to enable the DPP come up with legal advice. We pray for the remand of the defendants for the first 30 days in the first instance,” he said.
Director, Office of the Public Defender (OPD) Dr Babajide Martins, who announced appearance for Chidinma, complained the prosecution failed to furnish the defence with the remand application.
Nevertheless, he declined to oppose Ejiofor’s prayer “in principle.”
“I have just been privileged to get a copy of the remand application.
“I have not been able to go through it, my learned friend’s application is inevitable, I would have been happier, if I was obliged of the application earlier.
“The application will not be opposed, in principle,” Martins said.
Quadri had no legal representation.
In a bench ruling, Mrs Adedayo granted the prosecution’s prayer.
She held: “In the absence of any opposition, the two defendants are hereby remanded for 30 days in the first instance.
“The case is adjourned till September 5, for review of remand/DPP’s advice.”
Ojukwu, a 21-year-old Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, was arrested by the police on June 23, 2021.
She was said to have been in a romantic relationship with 50-year-old Ataga for about four months before the incident.
Following her parade by the police on June 24, the undergraduate said she and Ataga were “having fun” when an argument broke out and she stabbed him twice.
On June 29, she pleaded for forgiveness saying she was not ready to die.
She attributed her action to influence of hard drugs and smoking.
But things took a dramatic turn on July 13, 2021 when Chidinma recanted.
In an interview she granted the police media team which was aired by Crime Fighter TV, a police sponsored programme, Ojukwu claimed she walked into the room from an errand only to find Ataga stabbed, blood everywhere and the apartment in shambles.
In the eight minutes and eight seconds video, she claimed her earlier admission of stabbing Ataga to death was made under pressure and fear that people would not believe her.
She said someone probably entered the apartment when she left to get the things they needed, killed Ataga, scattered the place and left before her arrival.
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