Ataga’s murder and why Nigeria must uphold justice, order

THE trial of the murder case of the late Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, Usifo Ataga, has now dragged on since 2021 when one Chidinma Ojukwu, an undergraduate of the University of Lagos and others were accused as masterminds of the heinous act.

For the general public, the gruesome murder was a cruel and disheartening episode, raising concern as to what could have prompted such unmitigated disaster. The narrative so far is befuddling yet the nation looks on even with animated curiosity as to a judicious outcome of the case.

What is important though is the uppermost necessity that justice must be done and actually seen to be so and no matter whose ox is gored.

Of course, the question of justice has since been regarded as the cornerstone of the social system. It is the basis for the coherent living of a society. Justice is synonymous with lawfulness, the absence of unreasonable actions and freedom for every section of society.

Indeed, the quest for justice is now imperative as we bear in mind that the whole world is watching since the trial has now become an issue of interest to the global community. This is important for our national morality, integrity, image and sanity, underscoring the relevance of justice as a pre- condition for law and order in a civilised society.

Thus the long trial is inevitable since most murder trials usually take a long period to be sure that all the angles to cases are thoroughly examined, evaluated and the facts and evidence are accordingly put to the test of law.

It has to be emphasised though that in order to achieve the above, the justice system has to be fair in order to be credible; and that a fair society must have a fair justice system. Indeed, to enhance trust, philosophers have also posited, that the people must believe that justice is fair and equally applied. A corollary to this is that no one should suffer criminal liability for an offence he or she has not committed. This will amount to a miscarriage of justice except proven by the law court. Yes an accused person is deemed innocent until otherwise stated so convincingly by the court.

According to media reports, at the last hearing on the matter at the Lagos High Court, a forensic expert, Dr. Richard Somiari, who testified as the eleventh prosecution witness told the court that the DNA blood sample found on Chidinma’s red dress matched that of the victim, Ataga.

Led in evidence by the Lagos State Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Mrs. Adenike Oluwafemi, Somiari, a director and consultant for the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre, told the court that he had practised in the area of forensic for 15 years and had conducted over 500 forensic tests.

The forensic analyst also told the court that concerning Chidinma’s case, his office received 21 different items on different days from their DNA centre staff members. According to him, the items were received for evidence and they included a stained red dress, an army green t- shirt, and a DNA sample from Chidinma Ojukwu.

He said that other items received were urine, blood, gastric content, and bile which were retained for a toxicology report. He said that the goal was to create an evidence triangle to link the suspect to the crime scene and the victim. Somiari said that the DNA on the red dress matched that of the victim, Ataga.

It was reported that Justice Yetunde Adesanya adjourned the case until May 30, for continuation of trial.

Ojukwu and the two others were arraigned on Oct. 12, 2021, by the Lagos State Government.

Ojukwu and Quadri are facing the first to eight counts bordering on conspiracy, murder, and stabbing while her sister, Egbuchu, is facing the ninth count of stealing an iphone 7 , belonging to the late Ataga.

For now, all the accused are deemed innocent before the law even as the court remains the temple of justice.