Barely three weeks after confessing to killing the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Michael Ataga, the suspect, 21-year-old Chidinma Ojukwu, a supposed 300-level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, has recanted her earlier statement.
To the bewilderment of all, Chidinma, who has been in the custody of the Lagos State Police Command, said she lied about stabbing Ataga because nobody would believe her since she was the only person who was with him. She also said what made her feel responsible for his death was because she took his money and her failure to alert the police.
In a confession she made on June 24, when she was paraded at the police headquarters in Ikeja, Chidinma told newsmen that she stabbed Super TV CEO Michael Ataga to death in self-defence.
She said Ataga had asked her on June 13 to get a place where they could stay for a while, which she obliged by checking a short let online and making payment.
“On Tuesday, June 15, he was making advances at me and I resisted, so he became violent and later had his way. In the afternoon, he ordered for smoke, ate and we became high because I also smoked with him even though I was still angry about the first one he did.
“So, I was on my own, watching a movie on the couch. He came at me again and I said no because I wasn’t happy with him. I told him that he doesn’t help me but only plays me around, he kept trying to make advances and I was resisting so I had to defend myself.
But the 21-year-old lady in an interview with Crime Fighters yesterday claimed she knew nothing about Ataga’s death and that she did not know who went into the apartment after she went out to get some food.
Describing the deceased as a busy man who was quick to anger, Chidinma said: “Ataga was actually a busy person but at a point, I found out that he lies a lot just to be able to have sex with young girls.
“I don’t know who that person is. I don’t know what happened. I did not kill him,” the suspect said.
She, however, admitted that they spent time together, drinking and smoking before he died but claimed that she was not in the apartment at the time he was killed.
“I didn’t injure anybody. I don’t know who must have come into the apartment, and did that. I don’t know who that person is. I don’t know what happened. I did not kill him,” she claimed.