Neighbours of Chidinma Ojukwu, the 21-year-old Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos paraded by the police for killing Mr Usifo Ataga, Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, have opened up on the suspect even as they claim to have been living in fear since last Thursday.
Chidinma’s house on Akinwunmi Street, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos, once a quiet neighbourhood, has suddenly transformed into a busy section following the incident as strange faces now hover around the place.
Apart from describing the 21-year-old suspect from Arochukwu Local Government Area in Abia State as a calm and an unassuming young lady, residents of the area said Ojukwu was respectful and hardly spoke with anyone around the neighbourhood.
However, those in the community told Af24news that since Chidinma confessed to stabbing Ataga to death inside a service apartment in the Lekki area of Lagos they had gone to make out, life had not remained the same in the area.
Apart from now living in constant fear, residents revealed that they were still too shocked to come to terms with the fact that the 21-year-old lady indeed carried out the murder.
A security guard in the area, who refused to mention his name for safety reasons, said that the frequent sight of policemen in their neighbourhood since the incident has left many of them living in fear.
“I’ve been guarding this street for over two years, we are all surprised at what we heard about the girl. As far as I’m concerned, it is completely out of her character because I have never seen her in a bad mood or seen her making noise on the street.
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“The police came around 10:20pm on Wednesday night to arrest her. I was surprised to see police driving into our street that night, it is unusual seeing them here at that time of the day. When they stopped at number 57, opposite a church, they didn’t shoot, they just went in and picked the girl and her father.
“It was until Thursday that we heard what happened and have been in shock since then. Everybody here have been living in fear because we don’t know what will happen next,” he said.
A middle-aged woman living a few houses away from the compound Chidinma and her father resides on the street disclosed that news of the incident jolted and left them in complete shock. According to her, the presence of strange faces in their neighbourhood since that incident has left them worried for their own safety.
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“We are all afraid since the news broke out. We never knew that we were living with a cold-hearted killer all these while.
“The terrible things we have read shows that the Chidinma we know wasn’t normal all along. The father needs to come out and tell more about the girl’s upbringing because I suspect she could have suffered some kind of abuse.
“I don’t think it was poverty that drove her into what she did. I believe there is a lot to her action than poverty or lack.
“No one has seen her father ever since. I’m sure he and his other daughters are shocked, too. Many of the tenants in their compound I know are yet to recover from the shock the incident caused them. It is very sad to see things happen this way,” she said.
The police in Lagos on Friday released Chidinma’s father, who was arrested alongside her for trying to stop police officers from taking her away on Wednesday night. Owner of the service apartment in Lekki where she met with Ataga before killing him, Nkechi Mogbo, was also freed by the police after days in custody.
Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Hakeem Odumosu, disclosed that the young lady will be charged to court upon the completion of investigation.
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