Chidinma says she found TV boss, Usifo Ataga’s dead body, in Lekki apartment

●Confesses she dressed the corpse, cleaned the blood, then fled scene

Chidinma Ojukwu, the lady suspected to have murdered Super TV CEO, Michael Usifo Ataga, has told the court that she found the corpse of Ataga on June 15, 2021, in a Lekki short-let apartment in Lagos State.

She confessed to have dressed the dead body, cleaned the blood on the floor, collected some items from his him and then fled the scene.

Appearing before Justice Yetunde Adesanya at the Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square on Thursday, the University of Lagos Mass Communication student gave an emotional and sometimes bizarre account of events leading up to Ataga’s death.

According to Chidinma, the day started normally. After stepping out to buy food and juice, she returned to the apartment they had both rented on Adewale Street, off Ologolo Road, only to find blood on the floor and Ataga lying lifeless in a pool of it.

“I knocked several times. No answer. I pushed the door open and saw blood everywhere. He was on the floor, his eyes half-shut… no pulse,” she said, visibly shaken.

But her courtroom testimony didn’t end there.

Chidinma, led in evidence by her lawyer, Mr. Onwuka Egwu, recounted her whirlwind romance with Ataga, which allegedly began in November 2020. They met through a mutual friend named Fiyin, who was dating Ataga’s close associate, James.

She described the media executive as generous and kind, claiming he paid her school fees and bankrolled her cosmetics hustle.

The 21-year-old said Ataga had invited her to spend time with him ahead of his birthday. Due to renovations at his Victoria Garden City home, they opted for a short-let apartment. That move, she suggested, would become the setting for tragedy.

Her story took a darker turn as she admitted they spent the night before Ataga’s death drinking, smoking, and sourcing cannabis and rohypnol, a sedative.

She said Ataga personally transferred N15,000 for the drugs and later N25,000 for food.

On June 15, Chidinma said Ataga asked her to buy more weed but couldn’t transfer money due to banking issues. She stepped out again, this time to get food and juice, with a minor delay caused by a mix-up over the okro soup he had requested.

When she returned, the scene had turned grim. “I pushed the door open… blood everywhere… I checked for a pulse, none,” she testified.

In what many in court saw as a suspicious move, Chidinma admitted she didn’t call the police or raise the alarm.

Instead, she wiped the blood off her body, changed her clothes, packed her belongings, including Ataga’s bank statements, ID cards, and a brown envelope containing documents of one Mary Johnson — then fled the scene in a cab. She also took some jewelry with her.

The courtroom was left in stunned silence as she gave this account.

The case was later adjourned till April 28, 2025, for the continuation of hearing. [TR]