Judge watches suspects’ confession video recording in Arise TV journalist murder case

Judge Mohammed Idris of the FCT High Court in Jabi, Abuja, on Wednesday, watched a confessional video recording of suspects involved in the last year September’s armed robbery that claimed the lives of Arise News Television journalist Somtochukwu Maduagwu and her residence’s security guard.

The prosecution presented the video recording, which captured the police interrogation sessions of the 11 defendants facing charges in the case.

However, only about the first 20 minutes of the video was played back, showing only two of the defendants taking turns to give their oral statements.

The playback was stopped after the defence lawyer requested it to be discontinued to save the court’s time.

Ms Maduagwu was killed alongside security guard Barnabas Danlami during the armed robbery attack on her Unique Apartments residence in Katampe, Abuja, on 5 September 2025.

In January, the police arraigned 11 suspects linked to the robbery. They include Shamsu Hassan, Sani Sirajo, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu, Abdulsalam Saleh, and Suleiman Badamasi.

The rest are Zaharadeen Mohammed, Musa Umar, Mashkur Jamil, Suleiman Sani, and Abubakar Usman.

They all pleaded not guilty to nine counts of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and murder.

The judge, Mr Idris, subsequently remanded them in the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja, from where they have been standing trial.

What video recording shows

The police’s prosecution lawyer, Adama Musa, tendered on Thursday the video recording of the suspects’ interrogation.

The recording was tendered through Douglas Ishaku, an assistant superintendent of police who appeared as the fourth prosecution witness.

Mr Ishaku told the court that he recorded the suspects’ confessional statements and asked them questions in Hausa, and translated the questions to English. He said he also translated the suspects’ Hausa responses to English.

After admitting the recording as an exhibit, the judge granted the prosecution’s request for its playback.

The judge, sourrounded by the prosecution and defence lawyers watched the video on a laptop facing them, while the court audience listened to the audio.

In the video clip, the first defendant, Mr Hassan, confirmed that he was aware that he was being investigated for armed robbery.

He also named other gang members allegedly at the scene of the crime, including Sani, Abba, Kabari (said to be at large), and Nura. He said they used knives and guns during the operation.

He confirmed shooting the security guard at the house when he tried to overpower one of the gang members. But he said he was not aware that the guard later died. He said a lady jumped down from the building, as a result of the gunshot.

Mr Hassan was also captured in the video clip as saying that the gang carted away items, including a car. He took N200,000 as his own share of the proceeds, the defendant said.

For Mr Sirajo, the second defendant, he confirmed in the video recording being the driver of the car that transported the gang members to Unique Apartment.

He said one of the co-defendants, Mr Suleiman, provided the car, which he picked from Area 1 in Abuja.

He said after fuelling the car, he drove to Sauka to pick up Abba before proceeding to Madalla to fetch Mr Kabari and Mr Hassan. He said he also picked Isah and Nura from Kubwa.

The second defendant also said Mr Kabari gave him instructions and directions guide to the target location in Katampe. He said while Messrs Hassan and Kabari held guns, Mr Isah and Nura held machetes, and Abba held a knife.

On arrival at Unique Apartments, the defendant said he parked the car and was observing the robbery when he heard a gunshot.

At this point, the lawyers for the 11 defendants agreed that they had seen enough of the video.

The prosecution closed Mr Ishaku’s examination-in-chief.

Cross-examination

Four lawyers for the first to sixth defendants cross-examined Mr Ishaku on the procedure followed in taking the confessional statements.

A.B. Samson, the first defendant’s lawyer, asked about the dates the written and the video-recorded statements were taken but the witness said he could not recall.

Mr Samson, who fielded questions that sought to examine compliance by the police with the safeguards provided for in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), also confirmed that lawyers or relatives of the suspects were not present during the recording of the suspects’ statements.

The witness, also confirmed that the robbery victims could not identify the defendants.

In September, the witness told the court that the second defendant was arrested at a hospital in Gosa-Toge in Abuja where he was receiving treatment.

But on Wednesday, Mr Ishaku, fielding cross-examination questions from the second defendant’s lawyer, William Otabor, said he could not recall the name of the hospital or a staff member of the hospital he spoke to. But he said he knew the ailment the defendant was receiving treament for, although he ommitted the information in his own witness statement.

Mr Ishaku said he did not find the gadgets stolen from the robbery scene on the defendant when he was arrested. However, when storing the recovered gun that the defendant led them to, he did not go with the keeper to the police exhibit room.

The third defendant’s lawyer, E. I Onoja, adopted the cross-examination by first and second defendant’s lawyers.

Responding to questions from the fourth to the sixth defendants’ lawyer, Ojonomi Apeh, the witness confirmed that the fifth defendant denied participating in the robbery but that his denial was found to be baseless. He said investigation showed that the fifth defendant was part of the robbery gang.

The judge adjourned proceedings until 9 December for the continuation of the cross-examination by Mr Apeh.

READ ALSO: How Arise News journalist Somtochukwu Maduagwu was killed during armed robbery Police witness

The case so far

In September, Mr Ishaku told the court that Ms Maduagwu, the Arise News journalist, was pushed over a three-storey building by a member of the robbery gang and that one of the robbers shot the security guard, Mr Danlami, during the 29 September 2025 robbery attack.

Earlier in April, Maxwell Eje, an assistant suprintendent of police, narrated how the police arrested the suspected armed robbers and recovered some of their weapons.

Mr Eje said an English double-barrelled gun and an AK-47 used by the assailants were recovered following the confession of a suspect.

During earlier proceedings in February, two witnesses, Sani Yusuf and Fatou Toborteh, who were Ms Maduagwu’s neighbours at the Unique Apartment, Katampe, took turns to testify about the incident.

In their separate testimonies, they said they heard female screams on the night of the incident.

The two witnesses, who were robbed that night, recalled seeing Ms Maduagwu’s body with a serious head injury. They said she was later confirmed dead at the hospital.

However, they said they could not identify any of the defendants because the robbers were masked on the night of the robbery.