Mr. Raman Obiorah Saliu, co-founder of Super Network Ltd.(partner of late Super TV Chief Executive Officer, Usifo Ataga), on Monday, narrated to the court how he got fake responses from Ataga’s line when he was looking for the deceased....CONTINUE READING
He also said that there were seven stabs injuries on Ataga’s neck.
He was testifying in the ongoing trial of Chidinma Ojukwu, the murder suspect in the Ataga murder saga.
He said that “Ataga was killed like a chicken. There was one to the stomach.
“His hands and legs were tied up like a ram waiting to be slaughtered.”
Saliu, who broke down in tears while testifying before Justice Yetunde Adesanya of a Lagos High Court sitting at Tafa Balewa Square, TBS, said apart from the multiple stabs on Ataga’s neck, there was one to the stomach, on the two sides of Ataga’s ribs and the chest.
Saliu was led in evidence-in-chief by the deputy director of public prosecution, Mrs A. O. Oluwafemi.
The witness, who is the fifth prosecution witness, said that he saw a cut extending from the back to his neck “as if they were going to perform surgery” when he saw the body at the mortuary.
Saliu, a network engineer, programmer and a developer, told the court that he met the late Michael Usifo Ataga 10 years ago in the course of building the Super Tv App.
He said he was introduced to Ataga by a friend — Mr Bisi Osuneye — who is also late, when Michael came into the project as an investor.
“He became a co-founder by adding so many ideas” and they started working on the project until his demise last year June.
The witness explained that Ataga, being the Chief Executive Officer of Super Tv, they usually have management meetings on Mondays and Executive (EXCO), meetings on Tuesdays — virtually.
“On Tuesday, June 15, 2021, I wanted him (the deceased) to come to the meeting to give him the completed task, so I started calling.
“My first call was at 11am. I wanted to give him the brief that the task was easy. But he didn’t pick his call, neither did he return my message.
“Everybody started reaching out. He still did not pick my call. This was about 3:30pm, on June 15, 2021.
“Then I got a WhatsApp message from him. After reading the message, I said to myself this is not Michael talking to me.
“The message read ‘I saw your missed call, I took some drugs that can made me sleeping’.
“The construction of that message was not Michael’s, because Michael was very fluent in English.
“Then I sent him a screenshot of the billing system in the Super Tv App, saying it’s working and his response to me was ‘ok, great’.
“That was when I knew something was happening because Michael would have jumped up, picked up his phone and called me immediately.
“I called Gambo, a driver and personal assistant (PA) to Michael, who said he had been calling Ataga too because he needed to pick up his clothes from the laundry since he was traveling to Abuja.
“Gambo said he got a WhatsApp message at about 6pm, on June 15, 2021.
“Micheal’s friend, Okwuedo, who lives with us at Victoria Garden City (VGC), asked after Usifo.
“I told him I got a WhatsApp message from Michael. When Okwuedo saw the message, immediately he said ‘this is not Michael writing.
“Okwuedo and Gambo went to few places where they thought he could be, while I went back to the office and on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, I asked Gambo if they found him, he said no.
“I then called his cook at Banana Island. That was when I knew that he left home since Sunday, June 13, 2021.
“I was keeping calm because he was going to Abuja on Thursday for his 50th birthday.
“Wherever he was, I knew that he would come and meet me and we would go to the airport, stay with the girls (Michael’s daughters) and his wife for his 50th birthday.
“They were actually waiting for him; they were planning a surprised birthday party for him.
” it I started suspecting something was wrong because he was supposed to come to VGC on the 15th. So I had to raise the alarm that I don’t know where Michael was.
“My last WhatsApp message to Michael on June 16, 2021, was at 10:30am and the message read: ‘Bro, where are you? I am worried my BP is rising’.
“The message was read, but no response. I started getting calls from his family wanting to wish him happy 50th birthday.
“Calls started coming in, but I did not really know what to say. How can I say I’m looking for a 50 years old man?
“To me it didn’t make any sense. I wanted to go and make a complaint at the VGC police station of a missing person, when at about 6:33 to 6:35am on Thursday, June 17, 2021, I got a call from Mrs Brenda Ataga, his wife who asked ‘Where is Usifo?’
“I had to tell her the truth that I have been looking for Michael since on Tuesday, so she was a bit upset with me that I was looking for someone since on Tuesday and I did nothing about it.
“I tried to explain to her that I was trying to make a complaint. 10 minutes later she called back and said Michael’s phones was traced to the University of Lagos, UNILAG, guest house.
” I didn’t take my bath. I just grabbed my car key and I started driving to UNILAG.
“A friend called me and I told him I was driving to UNILAG, that Brenda called me and said they traced the phone there.
“Mrs Brenda Ataga also called me and said there is a team of policemen that I will meet at UNILAG to conduct the search.
“I got to there before them. So I went to the security and told them I was looking for a black Range Rover and they directed me to the guest house.
“The police joined me with two of his friends and a staff from my office. Mrs Ataga called me and was giving me the GPS coordinate from where the direction of the phone is.
“While going through Yaba, I got a call from our bank account officer, whom I asked to help me trace Michael’s transactions, so that I can know where exactly he is.
“He told me that Michael made transaction on Sunday and Monday and the Sunday transaction was to a lady Mrs Nkechi Mogbo, the the owner of the service apartment (where the deceased was murdered).
“The account officer also said that the transaction that was made on Monday was to an account with the name Chidinma Ojukwu Adora.
“The account officer asked me what’s happening, I said today is his birthday and I have been looking for him since Tuesday.
“So I told him that since the owner of the service apartment uses same bank, he should send me her number.
“The account officer sent me her number, so the police said I should give the number to Brenda so that it will not distract our search of Michael.
“Brenda then called to tell me that Michael was dead. I fainted, the policemen restutciuated me.
“I called her and asked how. She is in Abuja and we are in Lagos; so she said she called the number I sent to her and the owner of the apartment said somebody was murdered.
“Brenda sent her husband’s picture to the woman who said the person in the picture was murdered and that she was on her way to the police station at Maroko.
“So Brenda asked me to meet Mrs Nkechi Mogbo at Panti. I did in the company of some Michael’s friends. From there we went to the scene of incident at Lekki.
“When I got to the mortuary, I saw Michael’s body. Michael was killed like a chicken.
“I saw a very big cut at the back of his neck. The wickedness for me is that the day I was with Michael’s corpse, they were still taking money from his account.
“That was June 17, 2021, exactly the day he was 50 years old.
” There were subsequent USSD transactions on his account until Brenda and I decided to close the account.
“I started tracking Chidinma. I started looking at Michael’s calls. Chidinma was calling him via WhatsApp.
“I traced the money that was transfered by Michael to Chidinma’s bank and I supplied all the information to the Police at Panti.
“Around 1am, on June 23, 2021, on a Wednesday, I got a message from Panti that Chidinma has been arrested.
“Michael’s iPhone came with an original Apple pouch. When the police recovered the iPhone from Chidinma, it was replaced with a N1,000 pouch.
“Michael’s laptop was also recovered. There were two iPhones — one iPhone 11 and iPhone 7 or 8, was also recovered. I was told by the police that she gave the other iPhone to her sister.”
The witness further stated that the deceased made a transaction on June 13 at a restaurant in Lekki.
“I shared the information with Michael’s friends and they went there. We requested for CCTV footage to know if he went alone.
“But we discovered that he came with Chidinma. The police at Panti took the video and I was suprised to see the CCTV footage all over the social media,” Saliu said.
During cross examination by the counsel to Chidinma, Mr Onwuka Egwu, the witness said he had no idea of who handed the CCTV footage to the Police.
He said that the CCTV footage was trending prior to Chidinma’s arrest.
The counsel to the second and third defendants, Mr Babatunde Busari and Mrs J. I. Osigede, did not cross examined the witness.
Justice Adesanya adjourned to February 17 for continuation of trial.
Ojukwu, a 300-level, Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, is facing trial alongside her sister, Chioma Egbuchu and one Adedapo Quadri, for Ataga’s murder.
