‘Somtochukwu Maduagwu was pushed to her de@th’ — Police officer tells Abuja court

A police officer has told an FCT High Court in Jabi, Abuja, that ARISE News anchor Somtochukwu Maduagwu was pushed from a building during a robbery attack that led to her death.

The testimony was given on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, during the resumed trial of 11 suspects allegedly linked to the death of the 29-year-old lawyer-turned-broadcast journalist.

The incident occurred exactly one year earlier, on September 29, 2025, when a gang of robbers attacked Unique Apartments in Katampe, Abuja.

Maduagwu was reported to have fallen from her three-storey apartment during the attack, while a security guard, Barnabas Danlami, was shot dead.

Testifying before Justice Mohammed Idris, Assistant Superintendent of Police Douglas Ishaku said investigations showed that one of the occupants was pushed from a building by one of the defendants.

“We found out that one of the occupants was pushed down from a two-storey building by one of the defendants, and the security guard was killed,” Ishaku told the court.

Ishaku, a member of the police’s Scorpion Squad, also said he and his colleague, Maxwell Eje, obtained the confessional statements of the defendants, who allegedly admitted their involvement in the robbery.

However, the witness said investigations established that only eight of the 11 defendants participated in the September 29, 2025 attack at Unique Apartments.

He identified the first defendant, Shamsu Hassan, as the person who allegedly shot the security guard during the robbery.

According to the police witness, Hassan also owned a locally fabricated AK-47 rifle allegedly used during the operation, while a foreign-made pump-action rifle used during the robbery belonged to the second defendant, Sani Surajo.

The weapons, along with daggers and machetes allegedly used during the attack, were recovered by the police following the suspects’ arrests, the court heard.

Ishaku further told the court that Surajo had previously been arrested by the Intelligence Response Team over an alleged armed robbery offence, saying it was his first encounter with the suspect.

The witness also identified a suspect known as Dogo, who is currently at large, as the person who allegedly drove away a white Honda CR-V belonging to a former resident of the apartment, Fatou Toborteh.

The prosecution said the robbers also made away with cash, laptops and mobile phones during the attack.

The proceedings were adjourned after the prosecutor, Adama Musa, informed the court of plans to tender a video recording showing the defendants while their alleged confessional statements were being documented.

Justice Idris granted the request and fixed October 7, 2026, for continuation of the trial.

The 11 defendants are Shamsu Hassan, Sani Surajo, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu, Abdulsalam Saleh, Suleiman Badamosi, Zaradeen Mohammed, Musa Umar, also known as “Small”, Mashikur Jamil, Suleiman Sani and Abubakar Usman.