Owner Of Apartment Where Michael Usifo Was Killed Reveals How The Incident Began

The owner of the apartment where they found the dead body of Super TV CEO, Michael Usifo Ataga, in June 2021, has revealed how the incident began.

While the owner was giving evidence as the first prosecution witness in the on-going trial of Chidinma Ojukwu and two other suspects who were accused of being involved in the murder of Michael Usifo Ataga,

Yesterday, on November 11th, 2021, the Lagos High Court sat to hear from the owner of the apartment, Mrs. Nkechi Mogbo.

She told the Judge, Justice Yetunde Adesanya, that Chidinma Ojukwu, left the apartment before the day she paid to leave the apartment.

“On June 13, at about 4:00 p.m, a lady called me on the phone with a private number and requested the apartment. I asked the lady to send a message to me through WhatsApp so I would forward the details of the address to her, and that was something I did” Mogbo said

“Afterwards, the lady confirmed to me through a WhatsApp message that she would use the apartment for three days and mentioned that her name is Jewel, and I forwarded the payment details to her after she sent me proof of payment of N125,000 to my WhatsApp” Mrs. Nkechi Mogbo added.

The owner added that the sender was using a Guaranty Trust Bank account under the name of Michael Usifo.

She added, “The security guard in charge of the apartment gave her the key to the apartment, but two days later, that is on the 15th of June at 5:30pm, the lady sent messages to my WhatsApp number saying her friend would stay for two additional days and said she would pay.”

Mrs. Nkechi Mogbo said it was some hours later when she called the security guard and he revealed that he had found a body on the floor of the same apartment.

But at that time, she received a payment of N50,000 for the extra two days but lied to the lady that she did not receive the money, so she would be able to pay her again and she did. She planned this so Chidinma would come back to collect the extra 50,000.

“I panicked when my security guard told me about the body. I asked about the lady, because the guard confirmed that the lady who rented the apartment was with a man, and they said she left the night before the day of the incident, that is around 7:30 to 8 pm. ” Mogbo said,

“I sent her a message that I had received the first payment of N50,000 and told her I had given the security man the extra N50,000 for her to pick it up from the security house. She did not come. She sent a message saying she would use the pay for two more days for her friend. I reported the incident to the Maroko Police Station. They followed me back to the apartment. They took pictures. I followed them back to make a statement on what I knew. ” Mogbo added.