18/04/2025
Chidinma Ojukwu, a university undergraduate and the prime suspect in the murder of Super TV CEO Michael Usifo Ataga, testified on Thursday before a Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, recounting how she discovered his lifeless body in a short-let apartment in Lekki on 15 June 2021.
The former 300-level Mass Communication student at the University of Lagos, who opened her defence before trial judge Justice Yetunde Adesanya, stated that she had returned from buying food and drinks, knocked on the door but received no response. She then pushed it open, only to find blood on the floor and Ataga lying in a pool of blood.
“I dropped everything and rushed to him,” she said, adding that his eyes were half-shut and he had no pulse.
Led in evidence by her lawyer, Mr Onwuka Egwu, Chidinma detailed her relationship with Ataga, which began in November 2020.
She explained that they met through a mutual friend, Fiyin, who was dating Ataga’s friend, James. She described Ataga as kind and supportive, claiming he had paid her school fees and helped fund her cosmetics business.
According to Chidinma, Ataga told her he was from Edo State, lived in Victoria Garden City, worked in the media industry, and had three children with his estranged wife, who resided in Abuja.
