Chidinma accuses Police of tearing her statements, forced her to sign theirs

Chidinma Ojukwu, the prime suspect in the murder trial of Super TV’s Chief Executive Officer, Usifo Ataga has accused the Police of forcing her to sign two statements that implicated her.

Testifyng on Thursday at a Lagos State High Court sitting in Tafawa Balewa Square, Chidinma said that the two statements she wrote were torn and was forced to sign the one that police officer, ASP Olusegun Bamidele wrote, as well as the one that was dictated to her by another officer, ASP Olufunke Madeyinlo.

Chidinma who testified as the only defence witness in her trial within trial told Justice Yetunde Adesanya that Mr Bamidele asked her to rehearse the statement he had written and to narrate it to the Commissioner of Police.

The 300-level Mass Communication undergraduate, of the University of Lagos, is also charged with alleged stealing and forgery alongside one Adedapo Quadri and her sister, Chioma Egbuchu.

At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, the witness said that before she was taken to the CP’s office at Ikeja, her hands were handcuffed on June 23, 2021 to the chair she sat until the next morning on June 24, when she was brought out of the interrogation room and taken to Ikeja.

Chidinma who was led in evidence in the trial within trial by her counsel Onwunka Egwu, entered into the witness box at exactly 9:56am.

She narrated to the court that on June 23, 2021, she was in her room at their house at No 47 Akinwunmi Street Alagomeji Yaba, when her 10 year old little sister went to inform her that there were men in the sitting room asking after her.

The witness said that she came out of the room into the sitting room and then greeted them, they then asked if she was Chidinma and she answered yes.

According to her, they asked me where is Mr Ataga’s phone and his Range Rover vehicle, I said I don’t know.

“Immediately my little sister went to call my (foster) Dad (Onoh Ojukwu), my Dad came out and asked please who are you? They said they were police men from Panti police and that they came to arrest me and to search the house or I should go in and bring the phone. I said I don’t know where the phone and car is.

” One of the policemen raised his hand to slap me and my Dad said you can not slap my daughter in my house and the policemen tried to enter the room from the passage,” she said.

However the Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Adenike Oluwafemi, objected and said she was giving evidence of the case instead of evidence on how her statement was taken.

Justice Adesanya then asked Chidinma’s counsel to guide her.

After the objection, Chidinma stated that she was handcuffed and taken away from their sitting room into the police vehicle.

She said, ” When I was entering the vehicle, I told my Dad to call my lawyer, our family lawyer Mr Egwu.

“At the station, I entered the DCP’s office, he was asking me questions along with other policemen, then my Dad came and the DCP told my Dad to stop and allow his men do their job.

“We went back to my house and then came back to the DCP’s office and he started questioning me and then 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 then the IPO, Bamidele took me to the interrogating room with Mr Chris, and then gave me a blank statement form and asked me to write what happened.

” I started writing then he (Bamidele) took my left hand and handcuffed it to the chair. I wrote what I said at the DCP’s office, in the middle of writing the statement, Mr Bamidele took the statement from me and read through it and said this is not what happened.

“I told him sir, what I’m writing is what happened. Before I started writing the statement, I told him that I had asked my Dad to call my lawyer, that he should please ask my Dad if he had called my lawyer. Then he said that my Dad cannot make a call and that he was in the custody with them that was when I 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 and that is what I am writing, I received two slaps from the back from Mr Jemiyo.

” It was Jemiyo and Chris that were sitting at the back and the only person that was 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 and you tore it. He said if I did not comply that my family, my Dad, 10 year old sister and relative will be charged with this murder case.

“He (Bamidele), brought out his phone, played the video of the scene of the apartment and he showed pictures of Mr Ataga’s body. He said now you are going to write, then I started writing at the introduction of the statement, he said why Am I being slow, then I received another slap on my back.

” I told him that I was not feeling well that I need to rest. He (Bamidele)said there was no time for that. Then he took the statement form from me and he started writing and then Chris handcuffed my both hands to the chair.

“At the beginning of the statement, he asked me questions and then stopped after he was done writing he read the statement to me and I told him this is not what happened. He said this is what you are going to say or else my family will be charged.

“He read the statement to me again and told me that I should rehearse it that tomorrow(June 24, 2021), I will be taken to the CP’s office and when asked that’s what I should say. Then, he left me there that was around midnight.

“Bamidele came back in the morning, the next day with Chris and then he said “sign this statement” as I was being reluctant in signing, Chris said it’s better for me to sign because nobody is coming for me and that they will provide me a good government lawyer,” she said.

When asked if she could remember some of the questions the IPO had asked her, Chidinma said that she was asked to state her name, where she is from, where she lives, how she met Ataga, how many days she spent in the apartment and when she left.

She said the handcuffs were removed in the morning of June 24, when Bamidele and Chris came to ask her to sign the statement.

“After the signing of the statement I was brought out of the interrogation room, they gave me water to wash my face, then we entered into the vehicle and they drove to Ikeja.

” When we arrived at Ikeja, the other police officers came down and it was just me and Bamidele that was in the vehicle. Then he asked, do I read the statement for you again? He read it again and told me to narrate it. After the narration, he said, that is what you will say to the commissioner of police.

“Bamidele took me to the door step of the CP, then when the CP asked me, I said the same thing that Bamidele had wrote.

“My Dad was in the second vehicle when we went to Ikeja when I came down from the vehicle, I saw him with policemen, he was handcuffed, my younger sister and relation were in the custody.

Asked if there was any recording at the CP’s office, Chidinma said she doesn’t know if there was any recording.

She said that after her interrogation at the CP’s office, she was taken downstairs where she saw a lot of people (Journalists), with cameras, adding that as at June 24, she wasn’t feeling well.

When asked by her lawyer to tell the court what transpired when she made her 3rd statement.

Chidinma said, ” After I was taken to the press, then we drove back to Panti. Then Bamidele said we are going to do a video recording, and he said say what you have been saying in this video and everything he had written in the statement then they recorded the video, which was played here in court.

” I was taken back to the Cell, then in the evening on the same June 24, Oseni brought me out from the Cell and took me to an office, where Madeyinlo and another female officer, Bola were.

“They told me to sit down in the office and then Oseni left. I was given a blank statement form and I was told to write, Madeyinlo said I came there to write statement. Just then, Jemiyo walked in and I said ma, I have already written statement. I am tired and I have not eaten, she said when I’m done writing.

“I was just seating and looking, then officer Jemiyo came beside me took my head and hit it on a wooden table before then officer Bola had walked away. Jemiyo said you are not here to play.

“I picked the pen, then officer Madeyinlo said I should start writing. I wrote the date, my name, she then tore out a paper that has a writing on it.

“She (Madeyinlo) started dictating to me and said that I should write what she said. I started writing but then I couldn’t write properly because I was having headache at the end of writing the statement, she turned the back and asked me to sign,” Chidinma stated.

During cross examination by Mrs Oluwafemi, Chidinma affirmed that she signed the statements.

The lead prosecutor asked Chidinma to affirm that one of the statements she made, was confessional in nature and the other was denied.

Chidinma answered that the second statement was dictated while the first was written.

Asked if she reported to anybody that she was slapped and that her head was hit on the table.

She said,” I did not report to anybody because there was nobody to report to. Asked not even the CP, she said yes not even the CP.”

After Chidinma finished testifying in her trial within trial, at 11:02am, the judge gave the prosecution and the defence 14 days each to file their written addresses in the trial within trial.

Justice Adesanya, then adjourned the case to January 11, 2023, for the adoption of final written addresses, in the trial within trial.