Elizabeth O.
Usifo Ataga’s murder: “Police forced me to sign a statement they wrote” – Chidinma Ojukwu
Chidinma stated this while appearing before the Lagos High Court sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square on Thursday, November 17.
Chidinma, who is standing trial for the alleged murder of Ataga alongside her sister, Chioma Egbuchu, and one Adedapo Quadri, claimed that the two statements she wrote were torn and she was forced to sign the one allegedly written by ASP Olusegun Bamidele.
She further alleged that aside from being forced to sign another statement allegedly dictated to her by officer Olufunke Madeyinlo, ASP Bamidele asked her to rehearse the statement and narrate it to the Commissioner of Police (CP).
She claimed that before being taken to the CP’s office at Ikeja, her hands were handcuffed to the chair she sat from June 23 till the next morning on June 24, 2021.
Recounting how her ordeal in the hands of the police began, Chidinma disclosed that she was in her room at their house, at No. 47 Akinwunmi St., Alagomeji Yaba, on June 23, 2021, when her 10-year-old little sister informed her that there were men at the sitting room asking after her.
“We went back to my house and back to the DCP’s office. At DCP’s office, he asked me questions. 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. IPO Bamidele, therefore, took me to the interrogating room with Mr Chris, and gave me a blank statement form and asked me to write what happened. I started writing, Bamidele took my left hand and handcuffed it to the chair. I wrote what I narrated at the DCP’s office.
“While I was writing, Bamidele took the statement from me, read it and said it was not what happened. I told him, sir, what I am writing is what happened. I also told him that I asked my father to call my lawyer, he said my Dad cannot make a call that he was in custody with them. I then 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. I received two slaps from the back from Mr Jemiyo. Jemiyo and Chris were sitting behind me, the only person 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, you tore it’. He said if I do not comply, my family, my Dad, 10-year-old sister and my relatives will be charged with this murder case.” She said
