The hearing in the murder case of Super TV CEO, Usifo Ataga, continued today November 11 at the Lagos State High Court, sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square TBS, with Nkechi Mogbo, owner of the short-let apartment at 19, Adewale Oshin Street, Lekki Phase 1, where the body of late Ataga was found, narrating how different leads pointed to the fact that Chidinma Ojukwu as the prime suspect in the case.
“On June 13, it was on a Sunday, I was at home. About 4pm, I got a phone call from a private number, the first I ignored and the second I picked up. Then there was a lady who said she saw the apartment online and enquired as to whether we have the necessary facilities, which I responded yes.She said she would like to have a look at it and I said she could. She sent a message on WhatsApp with the picture of the apartment obviously indicating where she got it from. I sent her the address and she confirmed she would be on her way to the place.”she said
Mogbo told the court that she further put a call through to the security, Abubakar, explaining that the lady would be coming to see the place. Upon checking, the lady, who identified herself with the name ‘Jewel’, said she would take the apartment for three days.
“She asked for payment details, which I forwarded across to her, within a couple of minutes, she sent the proof of payment of N125,000. It contained the initiator of the payment, Michael Usifo, from a GTB account, the time and date of the transaction, and my name as the recipient,” she said
“Two days after, at about 5:30pm. – June 15, she was due to check out on June 16, I got a message from the lady that her friend would like to extend for three more days, and that he would be making the payment the next day, which would be on the 16th.”
“Hours later, I put a call across to my security man on a different issue, upon which he made a remark that they had noticed a body on the ground of the said apartment.”
“He said she left the night before at about 7:30pm to 8pm and didn’t return. I got off the phone and tried to reach the lady. I put a call across to her but she cut the call. She then sent a message saying she was in a meeting. I didn’t want to alert her as to what I was aware of.I carried on, saying the payment which she sent in the morning, unfortunately, wasn’t credited. I told her, so can you make the payment again because I made a mistake to acknowledge receipt? She said she would reach her friend for him to make the payment. Couple of minutes after, I got another initiation of payment for the same sum of N50,000 from the same initiator, the person of Mr Michael. When she made the payment, I was already on my way to the property to get a proper understanding of what had happened, after which I went straight to the police station,” she narrated
“I devised the means to lure her to come to the property after the security had confirmed she left the day before. She sent a message that she would like to use the N50,000 for another two days.”
“I was made to write more statements and was detained for seven days, to assist with the case. During this time, I was interviewed, they collected different evidence. On the sixth night, I was called by the DCP to his office; there was a young lady present, two older ladies, and a couple of officers. He asked me if I could recognise the young lady and I said no.”Mogbo said
“The security man, whom she was in contact with and always calling to put on the generator or pump the water said one day, she mistakenly called him with her number around 2:30am, after which she hung up and called with a private number telling the security man to turn on the generator.
''During the police investigation, when my phone record was printed, the same number also matched my incoming call number on Sunday 13th June, which the caller tried to hide, but couldn’t hide from the network providers,” she narrated.
The lawyer to the third defendant, A.O Odunsanya, said he had no objection to the documents being admitted as evidence.
Adesanya, from the DPP, further argued that the documents are relevant to the case and original to the witness because she printed the documents herself from her phone using the printer of the police.
In her ruling, the judge, Yetunde Adesanya, said the objections of the lawyers to the defendants failed and are accordingly overruled. Adesanya said the Evidence Act was clear as to what a public document is and the documents before the court are owned by the witness, who was tendering them and not the police or the DPP. She admitted the documents as exhibits E1.
The lawyer to the first defendant sought an adjournment to cross-examine the witness, saying Ojukwu has not had the opportunity of look at the documents as they received them on Tuesday in the open court. The lawyers to the second and third defendants said they have no cross-examination for the witness, as the totality of the evidence does not touch on their clients.
Adesanya adjourned the matter till November 15 for further hearing.