Judge Mohammed Idris of the FCT High Court in Jabi, Abuja, watched a video of suspects confessing to the armed robbery that killed Arise News Television journalist Somtochukwu Maduagwu and her security guard on Wednesday.
The prosecution showed the video during the trial, which included police questioning of the 11 defendants. However, only the first 20 minutes were played, showing just two defendants giving their statements. The playback stopped after the defence lawyer requested to save time in court.
Ms Maduagwu was murdered along with security guard Barnabas Danlami during the robbery at her Unique Apartments residence in Katampe, Abuja, on September 5, 2025. In January, police charged 11 suspects linked to the robbery.
The suspects include Shamsu Hassan, Sani Sirajo, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu, Abdulsalam Saleh, and Suleiman Badamasi. Others are Zaharadeen Mohammed, Musa Umar, Mashkur Jamil, Suleiman Sani, and Abubakar Usman. They have all pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, and murder.
Judge Idris remanded them at Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja, where they have been standing trial. The prosecution's lawyer, Adama Musa, presented the video during the hearing on Thursday through Douglas Ishaku, an assistant superintendent of police who was the fourth prosecution witness.
Mr Ishaku told the court he recorded the suspects' statements in Hausa and translated them to English. He also translated their Hausa responses to English. After the judge accepted the recording as evidence, he allowed the prosecution to play it.
The judge, along with prosecution and defence lawyers, viewed the video on a laptop, while the audience listened to the audio. In the video, the first defendant, Mr Hassan, acknowledged that he knew he was being investigated for armed robbery.
He named other gang members allegedly involved, including Sani, Abba, Kabari (who is said to be at large), and Nura. He stated they used knives and guns during the robbery. He admitted to shooting the security guard when the guard tried to overpower one of the gang members, but he claimed he did not know the guard later died.
Mr Hassan also mentioned that a lady jumped from the building due to the gunshot. He reported that the gang stole items including a car and that he took N200,000 as his share of the loot.
Mr Sirajo, the second defendant, confirmed in the video that he drove the car that took the gang members to Unique Apartments. He said one co-defendant, Mr Suleiman, provided the car from Area 1 in Abuja.
He explained that after fuelling the car, he picked up Abba in Sauka, and then went to Madalla to get Mr Kabari and Mr Hassan. He also collected Isah and Nura from Kubwa. The second defendant noted that Mr Kabari gave him directions to the robbery location in Katampe.
He said while Messrs Hassan and Kabari held guns, Mr Isah and Nura had machetes, and Abba had a knife. Once they reached Unique Apartments, he parked the car and watched the robbery unfold until he heard a gunshot.
At that point, the lawyers for the 11 defendants agreed they had seen enough of the video. The prosecution's examination ended. Four lawyers for the first to sixth defendants cross-examined Mr Ishaku about how the confessional statements were taken.
A.B. Samson, the first defendant’s lawyer, asked about the dates the written and video statements were taken, but the witness could not remember. Mr Samson also questioned whether police followed the safeguards in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA). He confirmed that no lawyers or relatives of the suspects were present during the statement recordings.
The witness also admitted that robbery victims could not identify the defendants. In September, he told the court that the second defendant was arrested at a hospital in Gosa-Toge in Abuja. On Wednesday, during cross-examination, he could not recall the hospital's name or any staff member he spoke to.
He did say he knew the ailment the defendant was treated for but left that detail out of his witness statement. He stated that they did not find the stolen items on the defendant when he was arrested. However, while recovering a gun led by the defendant, he did not take the keeper to the police exhibit room.
The third defendant’s lawyer, E. I Onoja, also adopted the cross-examination by the first and second defendant’s lawyers. Responding to questions from the fourth to sixth defendants’ lawyer, Ojonomi Apeh, the witness confirmed that the fifth defendant denied being part of the robbery, but that claim was found to be baseless.
The judge adjourned the proceedings until December 9 for further cross-examination by Mr Apeh. In September, Mr Ishaku told the court that Ms Maduagwu was pushed off a three-storey building by a gang member and that one robber shot the security guard during the robbery on September 29, 2025.
Earlier in April, Maxwell Eje, an assistant superintendent of police, explained how police arrested the suspects and recovered some stolen weapons. Mr Eje said an English double-barrel gun and an AK-47 used by the robbers were recovered after a suspect confessed.
During earlier hearings in February, two witnesses, Sani Yusuf and Fatou Toborteh, who lived near Ms Maduagwu at Unique Apartments, testified about the incident. They said they heard female screams that night. They recalled seeing Ms Maduagwu’s body with a severe head injury, and she was later confirmed dead at the hospital.
However, they could not identify any of the defendants since the robbers wore masks during the robbery.
Drop your comment
No comments yet — be the first to drop the gist 👇