Lagos State District Coroner Temitope Oladele has directed the medical director of the Ikorodu General Hospital to release late Gboah TV journalist Pelumi Onifade’s medical records to the Media Rights Agenda (MRA).
MRA, a non-profit press freedom group, has been leading the advocacy to unravel the circumstances of Onifade’s death to bring his killers, believed to be police agents, to book.
On behalf of MRA, Monday Arunsi and Jennifer Wala, both legal practitioners at Charles Musa and Co, had relied on the coroner’s July 8 directive on the subject matter and approached the general hospital in July to obtain the records, but the medical director rejected the request on the grounds that the records were confidential.
READ MORE: Judicial Inquiry Into Pelumi Onifade’s Death Launched 4 Years After His Death
With the coroner’s latest decision, the hospital is to release the records relating to the deposit, release or current status of Onifade’s remains within seven days of receiving the order, according to a statement signed by Idowu Adewale, MRA’s Communications Officer.
“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,” Adewale wrote.
Onifade was taken by the police officers attached to the Lagos State Taskforce while covering the EndSARS protests in 2020 and that was the last time he was seen alive.
Subsequently, his body was discovered at the Ikorodu General Hospital mortuary.
An investigation into his death was ordered by the Federal High Court in Ikoyi in August of 2024 following “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,” MRA’s statement further read.
“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.
READ MORE: Court Orders Lagos Gov’t to Investigate Pelumi Onifade’s #EndSARS Protest Death:
“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.”
The case was adjourned until August 19.
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