Lagos, Wednesday, March 25, 2026: The Coroner Court investigating the death of Mr Pelumi Onifade, a young journalist with Gboah TV, who was reportedly shot while covering the #EndSARS protests on October 24, 2020, has adjourned the matter to April 7, 2026, following the failure of the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to comply with the Court’s order to produce 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.
Although Mr. Alimi Adamu, lawyer to Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and the Onifade family, applied to the Court to issue a “Form 48” (Notice to Show Cause Why Order of Court Should Not Be Enforced by Committal Proceedings) against the CMD for the continued disobedience of the Court’s order in the light of the hospital’s repeated failure to produce the report, the investigating magistrate, Mrs Temitope Oladele, said she wanted to give the medical director a final opportunity to comply with the order.
The order, first made on November 18, 2025, directed LASUTH to produce “a comprehensive and specific report” relating to the body. However, after repeated failure by LASUTH to produce the report, on March 3, 2026, Mr. Adamu observed that the order was directed generally at LASUTH and not to any specific official of the hospital, which would make enforcement difficult, and applied for a fresh order directed specifically to the CMD. Mrs. Oladele granted the application and issued a fresh order directing 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.”
However, when the matter came up on March 24, the hospital did not produce the report and was not represented in court by any official or lawyer.
Mr. Adamu told the Coroner that, based on information received from the Court’s Bailiff, he was aware that the order had been duly served on LASUTH and urged the Court to confirm from its records whether the order had been complied with.
The Coroner checked her records and confirmed that the CMD had not complied with her directive.
Mr. Adamu then applied for Form 48 to be issued against the CMD on the basis of the continued disobedience of the Court’s order.
The Coroner, however, urged caution, saying she would not grant the application at this stage but would give the CMD a final opportunity to comply with her order, noting that in institutional settings, documents served may not always be promptly brought to the attention of the principal officer.
She consequently directed Mr. Monday Arunsi, who appeared with Mr. Adamu, to take steps to follow up with LASUTH to ascertain the reasons for the non-compliance and to facilitate prompt compliance with the Court’s directive.
The Coroner accordingly adjourned the matter to April 7, 2026, for mention.
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 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.
For more information, please contact:
Idowu Adewale (Mr.)
Communications Officer,
Media Rights Agenda
E-mail: idowu@mediarightsagenda.org
