One year after the death of Arise News anchor Somtochukwu Maduagwu during an armed robbery in Abuja, a police investigator has told an FCT High Court that she was pushed from the building by one of the alleged robbers.
The testimony, given on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, directly contrasts with the account initially presented by the FCT Police Command that Maduagwu had jumped from the top floor of her residence while attempting to escape the attackers.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Douglas Ishaku, the fourth prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of 11 defendants, told Justice Mohammed Idris that investigations indicated Maduagwu was pushed from the building during the robbery at Unique Apartments in Katampe, Abuja.
According to the police witness, one of the defendants allegedly pushed an occupant from the building, while a security guard, Barnabas Danlami, was shot dead during the attack. However, the witness did not identify the particular defendant alleged to have pushed Maduagwu.
The testimony comes almost exactly a year after the September 29, 2025 robbery that claimed the lives of Maduagwu and Danlami. At the time, the FCT Commissioner of Police had said Maduagwu died after jumping from the building during the attack.
Earlier witnesses in the trial had also given evidence about what happened that night. Residents told the court that they heard a woman screaming for help during the robbery and later saw Maduagwu on the ground suffering from a serious head injury. They, however, said the attackers were masked and they could not identify the defendants as the people involved in the incident.
The prosecution is currently trying 11 defendants over the incident. They are facing charges connected to conspiracy, armed robbery and murder, allegations they have denied.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, the police witness also gave evidence about the investigation and alleged confessional statements obtained from some of the suspects. The prosecution is seeking to tender video recordings of those statements before the court.
The witness further alleged that only eight of the 11 defendants were involved in the September 2025 robbery. He identified the first defendant, Shamsu Hassan, as the person police allege shot the security guard, and said a fabricated AK-47 allegedly linked to Hassan was recovered. A pump-action rifle allegedly linked to another defendant, Sani Surajo, was also said to have been recovered, alongside other weapons.
Maduagwu’s father, Ifeanyi Maduagwu, had rejected the earlier explanation that his daughter jumped from the building. In an October 2025 interview with BBC Igbo, he said he believed his daughter had been murdered and maintained that the circumstances surrounding her death did not make sense to him.
The latest testimony therefore marks a significant development in a case that has remained under public scrutiny since Maduagwu’s death. While the police investigator’s evidence has introduced a different account of how she fell from the building, the allegations remain part of an ongoing criminal trial and will be tested through the court proceedings.
The FCT High Court has adjourned the case until October 7, 2026, when the trial is expected to continue.
