Why we could not identify late journalist’s body — LASUTH

In yet another twist in the judicial investigation into the death of Pelumi Onifade, the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has said that it was unable to identify the body believed to be that of the late journalist who was shot by the Police on October 24, 2020 and later found dead.

The hospital cited all DNA samples held at the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre located in its premises were destroyed when the Centre was burnt down during the #EndSARS protests in October 2020.

But Mr. Alimi Adamu, the lead counsel to Media Rights Agenda (MRA), which applied for the coroner’s inquest, disputed the claim.

Adamu said the explanation offered by LASUTH contained a fundamental inconsistency as official records show that the DNA Centre was burnt on October 23, 2020, before the death of Mr. Onifade on October 24, 2020.

As such, he argued that the DNA samples collected from his parents could not have been among those destroyed.

Noting that the collection of DNA samples from members of the late Onifade’s family was carried out many days after his death, he argued that the DNA samples could therefore not have been destroyed when the Centre was burnt on October 23, before Onifade died.

The repeated failure of LASUTH to comply with the orders of the investigating magistrate, Mrs. Temitope Oladele, to produce “a comprehensive and specific report” on the unidentified body believed to be that of the late Onifade’s stalled progress for nearly five months in the inquiry into the death of the young journalist with Gboah TV, who was reportedly shot by the Police while covering the #EndSARS protests on October 24, 2020.

The order, first made on November 18, 2025, directing LASUTH to produce a report on the body tagged 1385, on which it was said to have conducted a post-mortem examination in November 2020, is part of the ongoing efforts to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of Mr Onifade.

At the last session of the inquest on March 24, 2026, the Coroner refused Mr. Adamu’s application for committal proceedings to be initiated against LASUTH’s Chief Medical Director for the continued disobedience of the Court’s order.

The Coroner said she would give the hospital a final opportunity to comply with her order.

She consequently adjourned the matter to April 7, 2026.

The coroner’s inquest into Mr. 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.

Delivering judgment in that suit 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.

At the resumption of proceedings on April 7, 2026, the District Coroner noted that in compliance with her order, LASUTH had submitted its report to the court. 

According to the report, all the DNA samples held by the DNA Centre were destroyed as a result of the burning of the DNA Centre during the #EndSARS protests.

Mr. Adamu, leading Mr. Monday Arunsi, on behalf of MRA and the Onifade family, recounted the sequence of events, saying they reveal a fundamental inconsistency in the explanation provided by LASUTH.

He noted that official records indicate that the DNA Centre was burnt on October 23, 2020, before Mr. Onifade’s death on October 24, 2020, after which DNA samples were collected from members of the Onifade family at a later date.

He submitted that on the basis of the chronology, attributing the alleged destruction of the DNA samples to the incident of October 23, 2020, is manifestly inconsistent and cannot be reconciled with the established sequence of events, “thereby rendering the explanation untenable both logically and evidentially.”

Mr. Adamu said, although he was not imputing bad faith against any institution or authority, the apparent inconsistency in the report called for clarification and, where necessary, appropriate corrective measures to ensure the integrity of the investigative process.

He told the Court that the Pelumi’s parents, who were present in Court, had subsequent interactions with relevant officials of LASUTH, including Professor John Obafunwa, the Chief Pathologist, following the collection of their DNA samples and that at no time were they informed that the samples had been compromised, destroyed, or that there was a need for re-sampling.

He said Pelumi’s parents are willing and available to give evidence on oath to that effect, should the Court consider it necessary.

Mr. Adamu argued that in the light of the provisions of the Coroner’s Law of Lagos State, particularly those mandating the reporting and investigation of sudden, violent, or unnatural deaths within the jurisdiction where such deaths occur, the court should consider whether appropriate consequential orders are required to ensure that the inquest is conducted in strict compliance with the law, including as it relates to the proper custodial and jurisdictional handling of the body.

The Coroner however observed that although the issue of the DNA samples is material, the primary and immediate concern of the Court is the identification, location, and production of the body which is the central subject of the inquest proceedings, adding that based on information before it, the body has been transferred from LASUTH to another facility, reportedly in the Yaba area of Lagos.

She stressed that the resolution of the question concerning the whereabouts of the body is fundamental to the progress of the inquest and that issues relating to DNA analysis, though important, can be revisited once there is clarity regarding the custody and status of the body.

Mr. Adamu proposed that, in the interest of an expeditious determination of the matter, the efforts to locate and produce the body, as well as the necessary steps relating to the DNA analysis or re-sampling, should be pursued simultaneously.