Two prosecution witnesses recounted on Tuesday at the FCT High Court in Jabi, Abuja, the armed robbery that claimed the lives of Arise News newscaster Somtochukwu ‘Sommie’ Maduagwu and a security guard, Barnabas Danlami.
The witnesses, Sani Yusuf and Fatou Toborteh, who were both Ms Maduagwu’s neighbours at the Unique Apartment, Katampe, disclosed that they both heard female screams the night the incident happened.
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Ms Sommie and Mr Danlami died in September 2025 following an armed robbery attack in the Katampe area of Abuja.
The police launched an investigation, which led to the arrest of 11 suspects.
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The suspects are Shamsu Hassan, Sani Sirajo, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu, Abdulsalam Saleh, Suleiman Badamasi, Zaharadeen Mohammed, Musa Umar, Mashkur Jamil, Suleiman Sani and Abubakar Usman.
In January, the defendants were arraigned on nine counts of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and murder, and subsequently remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja.
The failure of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) to produce the defendants halted Monday’s proceedings. However, on Tuesday, two witnesses took the stand to testify.
The prosecution lawyer, Adama Musa, presented two witnesses.
‘I heard the scream of a female’
Mr Yusuf, the first prosecution witness, informed the court that he recalled being jolted awake by noises he tried to identify their source on 29 September 2025.
“I heard a gunshot with strange voices speaking Hausa and a huge bang on my door, while they entered shouting, ‘Where are you? Come out! Then I saw two men wearing masks, one pointed a pistol at me, and the other held a torchlight.”
The men then requested his valuables: phones and a computer. He handed over his S25 Galaxy and my MacBook Air.
Mr Yusuf said the robber, pointing a gun at him, ordered that he transfer money to him, but the other man stopped him and asked them to leave.
It was after this that he heard voices and screams around the apartment while he was being robbed. He said it dawned on him at that point that the robbers were many.
“I heard a scream of a female. The scream stopped after about 15 minutes. But before then, I heard a lady screaming for help and noticed the security guard, Joshua, saying the other guard, Barnabas Danlami, had been shot,” he said.
When the robbers left, Mr Yusuf recalled seeing a female body lying face down in a pool of blood, but he could not identify the person.
After a closer look, he assumed the person had been shot. “I could not recognise her but could tell that she was lifeless,” he said.
Upon discovering Mr Danlami’s gunshot wound, Mr Yusuf noted that a man named Joshua had already applied a makeshift bandage. They then secured a neighbour’s vehicle to rush the injured guard to Maitama District Hospital.
After this, he went back around 4 a.m and noticed that the female’s body had been taken away by the police. It was then he recognised the body as “my neighbour, Somto Maduagwu,” the witness said.
Adding to the grim account, the witness described seeing Ms Maduagwu with a serious head injury; she was later confirmed dead at the hospital.
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‘We saw a lady lying down with blood around her head’
Similarly, Ms Toborteh recalled hearing screams and loud noises in her flat, which she shared with her aunt and children, around 3 a.m. on the fateful day.
Just like Mr Yusuf, they were also robbed. The robbers took away their valuables, wallets, wristwatch, an iPhone 11 Promax, a Samsung phone, a laptop, cash and the key to a CRV Toyota Honda.
“We were petrified after they left and opened the balcony and saw a lady lying down with blood around her head. We went back to our living room but did not know who fell and later heard from the neighbours that it was Ms Maduagwu,” she said.
The witness continued, “We also learnt that Danlami was shot and the neighbours attempted to call the police.” Both of them were taken to the hospital.
Witnesses unable to identify suspects
While taking their turns in the witness box, the witnesses were asked by the prosecution to look at the faces of the defendants and see if they could identify them as the robbers.
Each of the two witnesses replied that they could not identify any of the defendants because the robbers were masked on the night of the robbery.
After their testimonies, the defendants’ lawyers, Agbocheni Samson, Ojonimi Apeh, Dennis Abu and Seidu Alpha, did not cross-examine the witnesses.
Thereafter, the trial judge, Mohammed Idris, adjourned proceedings until 12 February for continuation of the hearing.
