Usifo Ataga, Slain Super TV boss laid to rest as family/friends weeps

Super TV Managing Director, Usifo Ataga who died in controversial circumstances the police said they were still investigating has been buried in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The  Chief Executive Officer of  Super TV, Micheal Usifo Ataga,was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Lagos yesterday, six weeks after his murder. Tears flowed as  family members, close associates and  other sympathisers paid him their last respects.

The burial at the Ebony Vaults,Ikoyi were preceded by a  Service of Songs on Thursday and a farewell service at e Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, Lagos,yesterday amid tight security.

In a sermon at the service, the officiating priest, Very Rev. Fr. Julius Olaitan described the deceased as a focused man who achieved many things.

Usifo was found dead with multiple stabs on June 16 at a short let apartment on Adebowale Oshin Street, Lekki Phase I where he had checked in with his lover, 21-year-old Chidinma Ojukwu, a 300-level Mass Communication student at the University of Lagos.

Ojukwu was consequently arrested on June 23 in her father’s house in Yaba and paraded at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja.

She confessed to stabbing Usifo with a knife under the influence of alcohol and withdrawing N380,000 from the victim’s account with his ATM card. She, however, backtracked later in a video, absolving herself from the murder.

In her funeral oration, His wife, Brenda Ataga, said news of her husband’s demise was heartbreaking.

Her words:“Finding out of your demise was the worst news imaginable. My mind had raced through all the possibilities of where you were and what could have happened but death, death wasn’t an option,” she said.

“The girls and I were looking forward to seeing you, to celebrate your milestone. I had imagined how surprised you would be when you walked in to see a place set up for you. I had imagined the infectious smile.”

Isi Ataga, eldest brother, in his vote of thanks on behalf of the family, thanked the church and other sympathisers for standing with the bereaved family through the difficult moment.

The deceased was survived by two daughters — Eboselulu and Emoata.

Ataga was found dead in an apartment at Lekki last month a few days to his 50th birthday.

Following his death, the Lagos State Police Command arrested a 21-year-old undergraduate of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Chidinma Ojukwu and several other persons in connection with his death.

Journalists were restricted from covering some aspects of the burial. A relation of the late Usifo seized our correspondent’s phone and deleted photos of the interment.

The late Usifo, enclosed in a white coffin, was lowered to the ground amid sobs and prayers by his family and friends.

Some bereaved family members at the burial ground declined comments. However, Usifo’s mother, wife and children paid tributes to him in a service of songs and funeral programme sighted by our correspondent.