The Coroner Court investigating the death of Mr. Pelumi Onifade, a young journalist with Gboah TV who was reportedly shot and arrested while covering the #EndSARS protests on October 24, 2020, has ordered the Chief Medical Examiner of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, to produce the autopsy report of an unidentified body believed to be that of the late journalist.
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The body, tagged No. 1385, was among the bodies reportedly taken to LASUTH after the #EndSARS protests.
The investigating magistrate, Mrs. Temitope Oladele, also ordered the Director of the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre to forward to the court, within 21 days, the DNA test result relating to the same body.
The order followed an application by counsel to Onifade’s family and Media Rights Agenda, MRA, Mr. Alimi Adamu, who appeared with Mr. Monday Arunsi and Mr. Somto Afulukwe.
Onifade was allegedly arrested by policemen attached to the Lagos State Task Force while covering the #EndSARS protests in 2020. He was later found dead at the Ikorodu General Hospital mortuary, where his body had been deposited.
The inquest was convened pursuant to the judgment of the Federal High Court in Lagos in a wrongful death suit filed by MRA against the Police and the Lagos State Government.
In the judgment delivered on July 19, 2024, Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji directed the Attorney-General to ensure an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Onifade’s death and to conduct a coroner’s inquest to ascertain the cause of death, as well as identify and prosecute those responsible.
At the resumed hearing, Adamu urged the coroner to direct LASUTH to produce the autopsy report which the hospital said had been conducted on the body.
He also asked the court to order the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre to produce the DNA test result on samples collected in 2020 from the body, as well as reference samples collected from families who lost loved ones during the #EndSARS protests.
Adamu recalled that at the previous sitting, the court had ordered the Chief Medical Director of Yaba General Hospital to produce a detailed report on the whereabouts and status of the body within 14 days of service of the order.
However, he said a review of LASUTH’s report showed that the body was not linked to Yaba General Hospital. Rather, the report stated that the body bearing Tag No. 1385 had been transferred to the Infectious Disease Hospital, IDH, Yaba Mortuary, for storage.
According to him, the LASUTH report confirmed that an autopsy had already been conducted on the body and that DNA samples collected during the process had been forwarded to the DNA and Forensic Centre for identification and analysis.
He added that the report also indicated that LASUTH was awaiting the outcome of the DNA analysis.
Consequently, Adamu urged the court to order the Director of the DNA and Forensic Centre to produce the DNA analysis and report relating to the body, and also direct the Chief Medical Examiner of LASUTH to produce the autopsy report.
Although the coroner initially expressed concern over the operational status of the DNA and Forensic Centre, following reports that it was burnt during the #EndSARS protests, Adamu informed the court that the centre was still functioning and currently operating from its office at 48 Broad Street, Lagos.
Ruling on the applications, Magistrate Oladele held that, based on the March 24, 2026 report issued by LASUTH’s Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, autopsies were conducted on six bodies brought to LASUTH on November 3, 2020, including the body with Tag No. 1385.
She therefore ordered the Chief Medical Examiner of LASUTH to forward the autopsy report of the body with Tag No. 1385 to the court within 21 days.
The coroner also ordered the Director of the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre to forward to the court, within 21 days, the DNA test result for the same body, for which samples were collected by LASUTH and sent for identification.
The matter was adjourned to June 23, 2026, for continuation of proceedings.
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