ARISE News has announced that its late anchor, correspondent, and producer, Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu, who died in a tragic armed robbery incident on September 29, 2025, will be laid to rest on Saturday, October 18, 2025.
In a video on Saturday, the station said an “evening of tributes will be held on 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.”
Maduagwu, 29, was a Nigerian 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.
Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory Police Command has arrested 12 suspects linked to the crime.
The Command’s spokesperson, SP Josephine Adeh, in a statement on Friday, 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.
