Nearly six years after the chaotic days of the #EndSARS demonstrations in Lagos, a long-awaited postmortem examination has finally provided definitive answers regarding the death of young journalist Pelumi Onifade. The official medical findings, released to the public, confirm that the twenty-year-old reporter tragically lost his life due to a gunshot wound to the abdomen while on assignment for Gboah TV in October 2020.
The comprehensive nine-page report issued by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital detailed that Onifade suffered massive internal bleeding, formally described as massive haemoperitoneum, triggered by a penetrating firearm injury. According to the medical documentation signed late last July following an examination conducted at the hospital morgue, the projectile followed an unusual trajectory entering through the back and moving upward and toward the front, a pattern medical experts noted was consistent with a ricochet. The formal identification of the young journalist’s remains, tagged as body number 1385, was ultimately confirmed earlier this year through DNA profiling conducted by the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre after matching samples provided by his grieving family.
The release of these critical findings marks a major turning point in an arduous quest for justice spearheaded by the Media Rights Agenda alongside the Onifade family. For years, the circumstances surrounding the reporter’s disappearance and subsequent death remained shrouded in uncertainty amid the tumultuous security crackdowns meant to disperse demonstrators across the metropolis.
The advocacy group played a pivotal role in legally compelling authorities to act, securing a landmark Federal High Court judgment that ordered the Lagos State Government and security forces to thoroughly investigate the tragedy and establish a coroner’s inquest.
With the autopsy report now officially submitted to the ongoing coroner proceedings overseen by Coroner Bola Folarin-Williams, fresh momentum surrounds the pursuit of accountability. As the legal battle presses forward with hearings adjourned into the coming weeks, the new medical evidence adds undeniable weight to the growing calls for those responsible for the young reporter’s untimely death to be identified and brought to justice.
