Coroner Gives LASUTH Medical Director 14 Days to Report on Unidentified Body in Pelumi Onifade’s Death Inquiry

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 given the Chief Medical Director of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) 14 days to provide it with a report on the whereabout of an unidentified body tagged 1385 which LASUTH was said to have received from the Ikorodu General Hospital on November 3, 2020 and conducted post-mortem examination on later that month.

The investigating magistrate, Mrs. Temitope Oladele, issued the fresh order during the last proceedings in the coroner’s inquest on March 3, 2026, at the request of Mr. Alimi Adamu, who led Mr. Monday Arunsi and Mr. Somto Afulukwe, as lawyers to Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and Pelumi Onifade’s family, following the failure of LASUTH to comply with an earlier order made on November 18, 2025, directing the hospital to produce “a comprehensive and specific report” relating to the body.

At the resumption of the proceedings at which Mr. Adebola Araba represented the Office of the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr. Adamu told the District Coroner that Pelumi’s parents, Mr. Olatunde Onifade and Mrs. Bose Onifade, were present in court. Mrs. Oladele acknowledged their presence and formally expressed her condolences to the family for the death of their son.

Mr. Adamu said he had received confirmation that the protracted strike at LASUTH, which had stalled progress in the matter since the earlier order was made, had been called off and asked if the Coroner had received a report from LASUTH in compliance with the November 18, 2025.

The Coroner asked if the order had been duly served on the hospital, upon which Mr. Arunsi confirmed that the order was served on LASUTH in January 2026.

The Coroner, however, noted that there was no proof of service of the order in the Court’s file, and Mr. Arunsi promised to follow up with the court’s bailiff, whom he said had earlier told him that the proof of service had been filed.

The Coroner also asked whether the lawyers had visited LASUTH following the suspension of the strike, to which Mr. Arunsi responded that he had been to the hospital, adding that he just returned from LASUTH that morning before coming to the Court.

He explained that he visited the administrative block where the officials acknowledged that they had received the Court’s order but were unable to confirm if the hospital had complied with the order.

Mr. Alimi then observed that the November 18, 2025, order was directed generally at LASUTH and not to any specific official of the hospital, and applied for a fresh order directed specifically to the Chief Medical Director of LASUTH.

Mrs. Oladele granted the application and ordered the Chief Medical Director “to give a report of the body with the tag number 1385 said to have been received on behalf of LASUTH on 3rd November 2020 from Ikorodu General Hospital, within fourteen (14) days of receipt of this Order.”

She thereafter adjourned further proceedings in the matter to March 24, 2026.

The coroner’s inquest into Pelumi Onifade’s death was convened on the orders of a Federal High Court in Lagos following a suit brought against the Police and the Lagos State Government by MRA, demanding, among other things, an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of the late journalist.

In his judgment in that suit, delivered on July 19, 2024, Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji directed the Attorney-General of Lagos State to take all necessary steps to ensure an investigation into the circumstances of the younger Mr Onifade’s death and to conduct a coroner’s inquest to ascertain the cause of death, as well as identify and prosecute those responsible for his death.

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