A LAGOS State District Coroner, Temitope Oladele, investigating the death of a journalist, Pelumi Onifade, has ordered the Ikorodu General Hospital, Lagos State, to release necessary documents relating to the late journalist to representatives of the Media Rights Agenda (MRA).
Onifade, a reporter with Gboah TV, reportedly died in Police custody during the #EndSARS protests in October 2020.
The court in a ruling ordered the Medical Director of Ikorodu General Hospital to provide the legal representatives of MRA with hospital records relating to the deposit, release or current status of his remains within seven days of receipt of the order.
According to a statement by the spokesperson of the MRA, the investigating magistrate issued the order on Friday, August 8, following an application made by MRA’s lawyer, Monday Arunsi and Jennifer Wala, of the law firm of Charles Musa and Co.
The lawyers have reported to the coroner that the medical director had refused to release the information on the ground that medical records were confidential.
The coroner’s inquest into the death of Onifade, a 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 MRA against the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Lagos State Government, seeking, among other reliefs, a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the late journalist’s death.
In July 19, 2024, the judge, Ayokunle Olayinka Faji, directed the state Attorney-General to take all necessary steps to ensure an investigation into the circumstances of Onifade’s death and 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, Arunsi and Wala represented the Onifade’s family and MRA, while Adebola Araba represented the Attorney-General of Lagos State.
Addressing the District Coroner, who also sits as a Magistrate of the Lagos State Judiciary, Arunsi recounted that, pursuant to the court’s directive at the last session on July 8, 2025, he, in company of Johnson Agbakaba visited the Ikorodu General Hospital on July 31, 2025.
According to him, the purpose of the visit was to comply with the court’s order to obtain the hospital’s records indicating the date on which Onifade’s body was brought to the mortuary, the date of its release or its current status.
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 Onifade’s remains.
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.
The judge thereafter adjourned the matter to August 19, 2025, for mention.
A reporter with the ICIR
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