“After some difficulty getting okro soup and failing to reach him, I returned to the apartment and found him dead. I saw blood on the floor and pushed the door open. Michael was lying on the ground, covered in blood, his eyes half-shut.”
Chidinma Ojukwu, the prime suspect in the murder of Super TV Chief Executive Officer Michael Ataga, testified Thursday, April 17, 2025, in a Lagos High Court about discovering his lifeless body in a Lekki short-let apartment on June 15, 2021.
“I dropped everything and rushed to him,” she told the court. “His eyes were half-shut and he had no pulse.”
The former 300-level Mass Communication student from the University of Lagos detailed her relationship with Ataga, which began in November 2020 through mutual friends. She described him as kind and supportive, saying he paid her school fees and financially supported her cosmetics business.
Ojukwu explained that Ataga invited her to spend time with him before his birthday, requesting she find an apartment in Lekki. After arriving at the location on June 13, they dined together at a restaurant.
According to her testimony, on June 15, Ataga requested cocaine and gave her money to buy food. Upon returning to the apartment, she made a gruesome discovery.
“I saw blood on the floor and pushed the door open. Michael was lying on the ground, covered in blood, his eyes half-shut,” she testified.
In panic, Ojukwu said she wiped blood from her arm, changed clothes, and left with her belongings, Ataga’s documents, and valuables before calling a cab to leave the scene.
Ojukwu faces charges of murder, conspiracy to murder, and stealing alongside co-defendants Adedapo Quadri and her sister, Chioma Egbuchu.
Justice Yetunde Adesanya adjourned the case until April 28, 2025, for continuation of the trial.