Alex Enumah in Abuja
An Assistant Superintendent of Police and member of the Scorpion Squad, CID-FCT Command, Mr. Maxwell Eje, has narrated how some persons linked to the death of Arise News journalist and anchor Somtochukwu Maduagwu were arrested.
Eje, spoke on Tuesday at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as the Third Prosecution Witness (PW3).
Somtochukwu’s death trailed a robbery incident last year at her apartment in Unique Estate, Katampe, Abuja.
According to the witness, the arrest of the defendants began with one Shamsu Hassan, who was said to had fled to Zaria, on September 30, after the robbery incident.
He said upon his arrest, Hassan admitted to the crime and agreed to cooperate with the authorities to disclose the hideout of other members of his gang.
Speaking further, the witness disclosed that Hassan then mentioned one Sani Surajo who was receiving treatment at an unnamed hospital in Gosa, a suburb along the airport road in Abuja.
”Surajo was shocked at the sight of the security operatives of the Scorpion Squad at the hospital where he was receiving treatment”, the witness said, adding that, “He too agreed to cooperate and assist with useful information on the whereabouts of others who took part in the robbery”.
However, the testimony of ASP Maxwell Eje did not get to the point of cross examination as Dennis Abu, counsel for the seventh to eleventh defendants who also held brief for counsel to the first and third defendants had sought leave of the judge, Mohammed Idris, to meet a medical appointment.
This prompted an adjournment till Thursday 23 April for conclusion of the evidence in chief for the third prosecution witness and for cross examination.
The prosecution had earlier informed the court that he had two witnesses available at the start of Tuesday’s proceedings.
The FCT Police Commissioner had filed criminal charges against the 11 defendants bothering on conspiracy, armed robbery, and murder in connection with the September 29, 2025, armed robbery at Unique Apartments in Katampe, Abuja.
Recall that, “Sommie” Maduagwu and a security guard Barnabas Danlami had lost their lives during the robbery incident.
The trial began on February 10, 2026 after earlier delays due to the absence of defendants or other issues.
The first prosecution witness, Sani Yusuf, a civil engineer, a former resident of Unique Apartments, and the second, Fatou Toborteh, another former resident, have so far testified about the events of September 29.
Both described masked armed assailants raiding apartments but stated they could not identify any of the 11 defendants (who were masked during the attack).
The defendants are Shamsu Hassan, Sani Surajo, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu, Abdulsalam Saleh, and Suleiman Badamosi. Others are Zaradeen Mohammed, Musa Umar ‘Aka’ Small, Mashikur Jamil, Suleiman Sani and Abubakar Usman.
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