The body of Arise News anchor, Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu, who died in an armed robbery incident at her Abuja residence on 29 September, is to be interred at Agulu, Anambra State on Saturday, 18 October, according to an announcement by her employers.
Earlier that day, there will be a funeral mass at St. Theresa Catholic Church, Agulu.
Maduagwu, a 29-year-old lawyer, model, news anchor, reporter, and producer, 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, announced in a video by the station on Saturday, an ‘evening of tributes will be held on Sunday, 12 October 2025, at the ThisDay Dome, Central Business District, Abuja.
‘This will be followed by a service of songs on Wednesday, 15 October 2025, at the Corpus Christi Cathedral, Kaduna Street, Port Harcourt’.
Two days ago, the Federal Capital Territory Police command said it has arrested 12 suspects linked to the death of the news anchor.
In a statement, the command’s spokesperson, Superintendent Josephine Adeh disclosed that the armed robbery gang sourced their weapons from a supplier in the Niger Republic.
Adeh said: ‘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.
‘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 Deputy Commissioner Aliyu Abubakar and assisted by Assistant Commissioner Victor Godfrey to track down and dismantle the network following the murder.
