The trial of 11 defendants linked to the homicide of Come up Information journalist and anchor, Somtochukwu “Sommie” Maduagwu, continued on Tuesday with a prosecution witness detailing how the suspects have been apprehended.
Throughout proceedings on the Excessive Courtroom of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Jabi, Maxwell Eje, an Assistant Superintendent of Police and member of the Scorpion Squad, CID-FCT Command, advised the courtroom that the arrests started with one of many defendants, Shamsu Hassan.
Based on the witness, police investigations revealed on September 30, 2025, that Hassan had fled to Zaria, Kaduna State, following the theft at Distinctive Flats in Katampe a day earlier. The incident resulted within the dying of Maduagwu, who reportedly jumped from her three-storey residence, and a safety guard, Barnabas Danlami.
ASP Eje said that Hassan admitted to collaborating within the crime and agreed to cooperate with the police by offering data on the whereabouts of different suspects.
He mentioned Hassan subsequently led investigators to a different defendant, Sani Surajo, who was receiving remedy at a hospital in Gosa, a suburb alongside the airport highway in Abuja.
The witness advised the courtroom that Surajo appeared shocked when operatives of the Scorpion Squad arrived on the hospital. He additionally agreed to cooperate with investigators and offered additional data that aided the arrest of different suspects linked to the theft.
Nevertheless, the testimony of ASP Eje didn’t proceed to cross-examination, as Dennis Abu, counsel for the seventh to eleventh defendants—who additionally stood in for counsel to the primary and third defendants—sought permission from the presiding decide, Justice Mohammed Idris, to attend a medical appointment.
The request led to an adjournment of the case till Thursday, April 23, for the continuation of the witness’s evidence-in-chief and cross-examination.
Earlier, the prosecutor had knowledgeable the courtroom that two witnesses have been out there to testify at the beginning of Tuesday’s proceedings.
The FCT Police Commissioner had instituted the case in opposition to the eleven defendants, who’re dealing with expenses of conspiracy, armed theft, and homicide in reference to the September 29, 2025 assault at Distinctive Flats, Katampe, Abuja.
The trial commenced on February 10, 2026, after preliminary delays brought on by the absence of defendants and different procedural points.
Two earlier prosecution witnesses—Sani Yusuf, a civil engineer and former resident of the residence complicated, and Fatou Toborteh, one other former resident—had testified concerning the occasions of the evening.
Each witnesses described how masked armed assailants invaded the residences however said that they might not determine any of the defendants, because the attackers hid their identities throughout the operation.
The defendants within the case are Shamsu Hassan, Sani Surajo, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu, Abdulsalam Saleh, Suleiman Badamosi, Zaradeen Mohammed, Musa Umar (also called “Small”),
Mashikur Jamil, Suleiman Sani, and Abubakar Usman.
Times Nigeria