A Lagos State District Coroner, Mrs. Temitope Oladele, investigating the death of Mr. Pelumi Onifade, a reporter with Gboah TV who reportedly died in Police custody during the #EndSARS protests in October 2020, has ordered the Medical Director of Ikorodu General Hospital in Lagos to provide the legal representatives of Media Rights Agenda (MRA) with hospital records relating to the deposit, release or current status of his remains within seven days of receipt of the order.
The investigating magistrate issued the order on Friday, August 8, 2025, following an application made by MRA’s lawyer, Mr. Monday Arunsi, leading Ms Jennifer Wala, of the law firm of Charles Musa and Co., who reported to the Coroner that the Medical Director had refused to release the information on the ground that medical records are confidential.
The coroner’s inquest into the death of Mr. Onifade, a journalist who was reportedly arrested by policemen attached to the Lagos State Taskforce while covering the #EndSARS protests in 2020, and whose body was subsequently discovered at the Ikorodu General Hospital mortuary, was convened on the orders of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The order followed a wrongful death action instituted by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) against the Nigeria Police Force and the Lagos State Government, seeking, among other reliefs, a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the late journalist’s death.
In his July 19, 2024 judgment in the suit, Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji directed the Attorney-General 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.
During Friday’s proceedings at the Coroner’s Inquest, Mr. Arunsi, led Ms Wala on behalf of Mr. Onifade’s family and MRA, while Mr. Adebola Araba represented the Attorney-General of Lagos State.
Addressing the District Coroner, who also sits as a Magistrate of the Lagos State Judiciary—Mr. Arunsi recounted that, pursuant to the court’s directive at the last session on July 8, 2025, he, in company of Mr. Johnson Agbakaba of Charles Musa & Co., visited the Ikorodu General Hospital on July 31, 2025. The purpose of the visit, he explained, was to comply with the court’s order to obtain the hospital’s records indicating the date on which Mr. Onifade’s body was brought to the mortuary, the date of its release or its current status.
However, according to Mr. Arunsi, upon making their request, the Medical Director informed them that the information sought was confidential in nature, being a medical report, and that he could not release the records to them without being ordered to do so by a court.
Mr. Arunsi then made an oral application to the Coroner requesting her to direct the hospital’s Medical Director or any other relevant authority or person to produce the records regarding the deposit, release, or the status of the remains of Mr. Onifade, who allegedly died in October 2020 during the EndSARS protests and was brought to the hospital’s mortuary.
The Coroner granted the application and ordered that the Medical Director, or any other person with the authority or in charge of keeping the medical records, should disclose to the lawyers the records about the deposit, release or status of the body within seven days of receipt of the order. She thereafter adjourned the matter to August 19, 2025, for mention.
