…says ‘fake drivers’ licence, passport, other items recovered from prime suspect, Chidinma’
The police in Lagos have recounted how the Command adopted a “scientific method” in arresting the prime suspect, 21-year-old Chidinma Ojukwu.
State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in a statement on Friday.
The suspect and her father were arrested at their residence at No. 57, Akinwunmi Street, Alagomeji, Yaba, on Wednesday night.
It was learnt that the suspect’s father had resisted his daughter’s arrest because he didn’t believe that she had committed any crime until she confessed on Thursday.
Police sources said the suspect’s father was arrested for resisting his daughter’s arrest and for becoming violent with policemen, who came to arrest Chidinma.
It was further learnt that the suspect’s father was still being detained at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba.
Chidinma was later paraded on Thursday at the Command Headquarters in the Ikeja area of Lagos.
Her father was, however, not paraded along with her.
While being paraded, the UNILAG student confessed to the police that she stabbed 50-year-old Ataga to death on June 15, 2021.
She claimed to have been in a romantic relationship with Ataga for about four months before the June 15 incident at a Short Service Apartment, situated at No 19, Adewale Oshin Street, Lekki, Phase 1, Lagos.
Chidinma had also explained that an argument ensued while she and Ataga were “having fun.”
She added that she stabbed Ataga twice and later withdrew N380,000 from his account using his ATM card.
She fled the scene of the incident but was later arrested at her father’s residence in the Yaba area of the state.
Some of the items recovered from the suspect, according to the police spokesman, include, “Complimentary cards, Access Bank Statement of Account, one Nigerian Passport with No.B50010434 belonging to the suspect, one fake Drivers license bearing Mary Johnson with the suspect’s photograph, one National Identification Card bearing the suspect’s name, one UBA ATM debit card bearing the suspect’s name and one University of Lagos ID card bearing the suspect’s name.”
The police spokesman added in the statement that an Information and Communication Technology unit recently created by the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, tracked the suspect, who used different SIM cards – both Nigerian and foreign ones.
The statement titled, ‘Lagos Security: Police Go Tough On Armed Robbers, Miscreants’, partly read, “The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, recently established ICT/Tracking Unit at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba-Lagos, to adopt scientific and forensic measures of unravelling crimes and criminality in Lagos State.
“The unit, named D23, headed by SP Kasumu Rilwan, a computer scientist, has been instrumental to the landmark achievements and many feats recorded by the command under the watch of CP Hakeem Odumosu, including the latest arrest of the prime suspect in the alleged murder of Mr Michael Usifo Ataga, one Chidimma Adaora Ojukwu on 23rd, June, 2021.
“Similarly, the Commissioner of Police recently created two Squads, the Special Squad and the Strike Team, at the Command Headquarters, Ikeja-Lagos, to complement the existing department and units of the command in combating crimes in the state. The new Squads, as well, have played many roles in suppressing and keeping criminals and hoodlums at bay in Lagos State.”
The statement further said that the suspect in the murder of the Super TV CEO “will be charged to court as soon as investigation is concluded”.