•Late Somtochukwu Maduagwu
Arise News has announced the burial arrangements of its late news anchor, correspondent, and producer, Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu.
The update was announced in a video by the station today.
Maduagwu died in a tragic armed robbery incident on September 29, 2025. The 29-year-old was a lawyer, model, news anchor, reporter, and producer. She was killed during an armed robbery at her residence in the Katampe area of Abuja. A security guard, Barnabas Danlami, also lost his life in the attack.
According to the burial arrangement, an “evening of tributes will be held tomorrow, Sunday, October 12, 2025, at the THISDAY Dome, Central Business District, Abuja.”
“This will be followed by a service of songs on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at the Corpus Christi Cathedral, Kaduna Street, Port Harcourt.”
According to ARISE News, “Her internment in Anambra State on Saturday, October 18, will be preceded by a funeral mass at St. Theresa Catholic Church, Agulu.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory Police Command said it has arrested 12 suspects linked to the death of the news anchor.
The Command’s spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, in a statement, disclosed that the armed robbery gang sourced their weapons from a supplier in the Niger Republic.
“Preliminary investigations showed that the syndicate procured its firearms — including a locally fabricated AK-47 rifle, a pump-action gun, and a pistol — from an arms dealer operating across the Nigeria–Niger border,” Adeh said.
Adeh added that “all the suspects are from Kaduna and Katsina States and have confessed to obtaining their weapons from a yet-to-be-identified supplier in the Niger Republic.”
Explaining how the operation to apprehend the suspects was carried out, Adeh said the Commissioner of Police, Ajao Adewale, deployed a special investigation team led by DCP Aliyu Abubakar and assisted by ACP Victor Godfrey to track down and dismantle the network following the murder.
