My battles, by killed Arise News journalist

By Nnamdi Ojiego 

On September 29, 2025, a cry of disbelief rippled through Nigeria’s media landscape. Somtochukwu Christelle Maduagwu, a lawyer, a model, and beloved Arise News anchor, was gone. 

At just 29, the woman her colleagues fondly called Sommie, had a life that looked like a promise unfolding. Instead, it ended violently; her dreams crushed by the same national dysfunction she once prayed would never consume her.

 Prayer turned prophecy

 Only weeks earlier, Sommie had taken to X (formerly Twitter) to write a brief but haunting note: “I pray from the depth of my heart that Nigeria never happens to me or anyone I care about.” It read like a lament. In hindsight, it became a prophecy.

On the night of her death, armed robbers invaded her apartment block in Katampe, Abuja. About 14 men stormed the building, forcing their way into flats one after another. In panic, Sommie jumped from her sixth-floor window to escape. She did not die instantly. But what followed sealed her fate.

When the police eventually arrived, eyewitnesses said she was still alive. Yet officers reportedly claimed their patrol vehicle had no fuel. By the time she and an injured security guard were transported to Maitama District Hospital, minutes that could have saved her life were already lost.

There, a final indignity awaited her: hospital staff allegedly refused to treat her without identification. She and the guard both died.

 Rejected 

 The following morning, her colleagues struggled to speak on air. On The Morning Show, Ojy Okpe’s voice broke as she explained what had happened: “She did not die on the spot. She went to the hospital, and she was rejected. Sommie’s life could have been saved, but the hospital refused to treat her.”

Dr. Reuben Abati called the negligence “a violation of medical ethics and the law.”

For many Nigerians, her death was not just a personal tragedy but a national mirror.

Insecurity, poor policing, and a broken health system converged to extinguish a life that should have been protected.

 Dreams she carried

 Born in December 1995, Sommie’s path reflected a restless brilliance. She studied law in the United Kingdom, returned to attend the Nigerian Law School, and later chose broadcasting as her stage. At Arise TV, she quickly became known for her calm authority and piercing questions.

But journalism was only one dimension of her life.

Whether as lawyer, model, or journalist, Sommie carried a restless mission: to inspire, to empower, and to give voice.

 Outrage

 Her death has drawn condemnation across the country.

On social media, her final tweet was reposted thousands of times: Nigeria happened to her.

 Sommie speaks

 As first runner-up at Miss Tourism Nigeria, she embraced pageantry not as vanity but as a platform.

In an interview she granted TVC after the pageantry in 2023, Sommie spoke candidly about the battles she fought—between law and pageantry, between stereotypes and self-belief, and between her dreams and the realities of Nigeria. Excerpts:

 Good to have you join us, Sommie. When you first walked in, I thought, wait! She’s not that tall. And from what I know about runway modeling, height is usually a big requirement alongside looks and presence. Yet here you are, making it in pageantry. How did you break through that barrier?

 It’s something that really, really deterred me for the longest time, in all honesty. And I only just bit the bullet because I thought, “okay, there’s as much as there’s a height limit, there’s also an age limit to a lot of these contests. And so I’m approaching the age limit”. 

 What’s the age limit? 

 The age limit for most of them is around 28. And, in fact, for Miss Tourism Nigeria, they have one of the most liberal age limits, a lot of them 25 and you can’t compete older than 25. So even with the height and with the body, Miss Tourism Nigeria is actually quite liberal, because we actually have, I don’t even think I’m skinny enough for a pageant girl, to be honest. I mean, lots of them are much thinner and much taller, like you pointed out. And so it did deter me. And I’m happy that I did it to show the girls like us that “you can do it”.

Miss Tourism Nigeria, that means you’re actually the face for tourism in Nigeria. Have you been around Nigeria? How many of these sites have you been to?

 Well, I can’t say I’ve been to many. But of course, like you’ve just pointed out, I have to go to so many of them. But more importantly, as Miss World Tourism Nigeria, actually, my mission is a bit different. We have a lot of beautiful tourist sites in Nigeria, we have a lot of beautiful arts, culture, fashion and as much as the world loves to look at it, even us in Nigeria don’t enjoy a lot of these experiences ourselves. And so I’m thinking of ways to partner the government so that we can, you know, sustainably develop these sites so that we can actually enjoy them. We have a lot, like in my state, Anambra, you have Ogbunike Caves, and these things could be generating revenue but they’re just sitting there, you know, getting run down. There’s so much beauty that God has blessed us with and we’re not doing much with it. 

 I’m glad you mentioned the Ogbunike Caves. It’s actually one place in Anambra I’ve always wanted to visit. I even have plans to go there with friends next month. It looks stunning in pictures, yet I didn’t even know it existed for a long time, and I’m Nigerian. Don’t you think that’s part of the problem, that many of us don’t even know these treasures are here?

 That’s part of my job. I need to showcase this beauty to Nigerians and to, you know, the world at large. 

 You practiced law before moving into pageantry—two very different worlds.

What drew you into pageantry in the first place, and what challenges have you faced making that transition?

 So I’ve always been fascinated by pageantry, by modeling. I mean, I was in love with the sights of Agbani Darego on our TV screens. I can’t get that image out of my head. I’ve been modeling for a few years. I think in two years, I’d actually be modeling for 10 years. 

I checked on my Instagram and I was like, “Wow, I was the face of Zaron Cosmetics in 2020”. So I’ve always been interested. And I’m very multifaceted. It’s a battle. Well, I’ll say it’s a battle I have won because I’ve accepted that that’s who I am. It was difficult for my dad to adjust because he’s like, “I want you to just get a good job. I’ve taken you to the best schools. Let’s go ahead and get a good job”. As you do, as most Nigerians do, it’s very conservative. 

It’s nine to five but the more I’ve come to know myself and accept myself for what God has blessed me with, I realize I’m much more than a nine to five. That’s not to say I will never practice law. I still do, but on my own terms. And so, I mean, beauty fades. Let me use it while it’s here. 

You’ll soon be representing Nigeria at Miss Tourism World in China. On the global stage, issues like gender identity in pageantry often come up. For example, transgender women competing in female categories.

As someone carrying Nigeria’s flag, what’s your view on this debate? Should it be allowed, or do you see it as an intrusion?

 I think if I’m using the example of the sports, if I’m talking from the angle of the sports, you know, not having transgenders partake in female sports, I’ll say then there’s an unfair advantage. But if we’re taking this to pageantry, I think the transgenders may actually be at a disadvantage. This is me just assuming that they will not be genetically as beautiful as, you know, a born female. And so I think if they’re bold enough to try, why not? I don’t think I’ll be intimidated by it. I don’t think any other women will be. And so yeah, why not? 

Let’s talk about the stereotypes women in pageantry face, the perception that they can’t do more or be taken seriously.

You mentioned earlier that you have projects aimed at breaking these biases. Can you share some of them?

 Well, like we were saying, I don’t think it’s so much of a stereotype anymore. I think it’s actually in a lot of ways, it’s our reality in Nigeria. I don’t want to blame the government too much. I would like to take a personal responsibility to say, “I’m on a mission right now because I’ve had a lot of condescending remarks since I’ve been a beauty queen”. People just, you know, I mean, they don’t know me, but because I’ve introduced myself as this, there’s this whole brand new impression. And it’s funny because when I do speak, I’m able to, you know, completely floor them and they’re like, “oh my gosh, I had no idea”. And this is the case for a lot of girls. I mean, Winfrey is a pageant girl as well, and she’s doing amazing. She’s intelligent and she’s respectable, she’s dignified. And so I think I’m taking on a specific duty now to rework the face of pageantry in Nigeria. It’s dignified, it’s feminine, it’s elegant, it’s graceful. That’s what it should be. It’s about women empowerment. And so personally, I’m not going to pay much attention to those narratives or stereotypes as whatever we’ll call them, because this is my time. This is how I’m doing it. And hopefully this is how all the younger girls coming on would do it and even do it better. 

 You’ve spoken about female empowerment, but many outsiders don’t see pageantry that way.

What can beauty queens and women in this space actively do to show that it truly empowers women?

 I don’t think the mantle is so much on the beauty queens themselves, because like we were saying, a lot of times, you know, in Nigeria, there’s a politics that goes on as to the crowning. And so I think I’ll start there. Let’s actually make these titles merit-based. And so the girls who actually deserve to win will win and be projected. Let’s have these conversations about how to rework these narratives, how to ensure that the girls are actually empowered, and they’re not, you know, kind of pushed into doing other things, other undignifying things. And then, lastly, I hate to put this on the government, but anything that has government support does better. There are lots of industries, creative industries in Nigeria are suffering terribly because they don’t have funding. And so funding, money makes the world go round.

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