The Coroner Court investigating the death of Pelumi Onifade, a 20-year-old Gboah TV journalist who was reportedly shot and arrested while covering the #EndSARS protests in Lagos in October 2020, has given the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) Adetokunbo Fabamwo 14 days to provide a report on an unidentified body tagged 1385.
The body was said to have been received from Ikorodu General Hospital on November 3, 2020 and later examined at LASUTH.
The order was issued on Tuesday March 3, by the investigating magistrate Temitope Oladele following a request by lawyers representing Media Rights Agenda (MRA) and Mr. Onifade’s family.
The new directive came after LASUTH did not comply with an earlier order from November 18, 2025, which required a report on the body.
At the proceedings Alimi Adamu, leading the legal team, informed the court that LASUTH’s strike, which had delayed progress on the matter, had ended.
He asked whether the hospital had submitted the required report.
The coroner noted that proof of service of the earlier order was missing from the court file.
Mr. Adamu’s colleagues confirmed that the order had been served but said they would follow up on the proof of service.
The coroner granted the request to direct the order specifically to the CMD Fabamwo, stating, “The Chief Medical Director is 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.”
Further proceedings in the inquest were adjourned to March 24.
The coroner’s inquest was ordered by a Federal High Court in Lagos after MRA filed a suit against the Lagos State Government and the Police, seeking an investigation into Onifade’s death.
In a judgment delivered on July 19, 2024, Justice Ayokunle Faji directed the Attorney-General of Lagos State to conduct a coroner’s inquest to determine the cause of death and identify those responsible.
Pelumi Onifade was an intern with Gboah TV and a 200-level History student at Tai Solarin University of Education.
He was arrested by officers of the Lagos State Task Force while covering the #EndSARS protests on October 24, 2020.
Reports say he was shot before being taken into a police van at Abattoir, Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos.
In October 2020, Onifade’s family was contacted by the Head of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) CSP Olayinka Egbeyemi and invited to discuss whether Pelumi was in police custody.
The police later informed the family and his colleagues that five people had been arrested that day and one was dead.
His body was later found at the Ikorodu mortuary.
In November 2020, the Lagos State Police Command confirmed to the Committee to Protect Journalists that Onifade’s death had been reported to the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry on police brutality.
