By EMMANUEL THOMAS I Thursday, Sept 17, 2026
LAGOS, Nigeria – A post-mortem examination report issued by the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) has officially confirmed that 20-year-old journalist Pelumi Onifade died from a “penetrating firearms injury to the abdomen”.
Pelumi Onifade is believed to be among the dozens killed by soldiers and policemen deployed by the Lagos State Government, lead by HE Babajide Sanwo-Olu during the #EndSARS protest at the Lekki Toll Gate and other areas across the Lagos metropolis.
The autopsy report, signed on July 30, 2026, was formally submitted to the Lagos State Coroner’s Court investigating the circumstances surrounding the reporter’s fatal shooting.
The findings deliver definitive medical evidence regarding the death of the young reporter, whose body was dumped at a Lagos mortuary after he was shot and taken into custody during the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
The six-page forensic document details the cause of death as “massive haemoperitoneum” resulting from a high-velocity projectile penetrating the abdominal area.
The document confirms long-standing assertions by press freedom advocacy organizations and the late journalist’s family that Onifade died from bullet wounds sustained during an encounter with law enforcement officers.
Shot While Covering #EndSARS Unrest in Lagos
Until his death, Onifade was a 200-level History student at the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) and worked as an intern reporter for Gboah TV, an online news platform based in Lagos.
On October 24, 2020, at the height of the historic #EndSARS protests against police brutality, Onifade was assigned to cover an attempted looting incident at a government palliative storage facility in the Abattoir area of Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos State. Despite wearing a clearly identifiable press jacket, Onifade was shot when officers attached to the Lagos State Task Force opened fire while dispersing the crowd.
Eyewitness accounts and testimony from his colleague revealed that after Onifade sustained gunshot wounds, task force officers bundled his bleeding body into a police van (Black Maria). His colleague’s attempts to identify Onifade as a accredited journalist carrying camera equipment were rebuffed by the officers on site.
That incident was the last time the young reporter was seen alive.
Discovery at Ikorodu Morgue and Legal Battle
For days following the incident, Onifade’s family and management team searched police stations, detention centers, and medical facilities across Lagos without success. Police authorities repeatedly denied holding him.
It was not until October 30, 2020, that his family located his corpse deposited at the Ikorodu General Hospital mortuary—tagged under body number 1385.
The body had been transferred from the scene as a “brought-in-dead” case.
Despite his body being located, the state government held the remains for years while press freedom groups, including Media Rights Agenda (MRA), mounted legal battles demanding an official investigation.
In July 2024, Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered the Lagos State Government and the Police Command to conduct a coroner’s inquest to establish the precise cause of Onifade’s death and identify the officers responsible.
Forensic DNA Match and Search for Accountability
The path to establishing the medical cause of death reached a major breakthrough when DNA test results released by the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre confirmed a match between the unidentified body Tag No. 1385 stored at the morgue and reference samples collected from Onifade’s parents.
Counsel representing MRA and the Onifade family, Mr. Alimi Adamu, emphasized that the post-mortem report represents the central documentary evidence required to establish criminal liability.
With the cause of death officially confirmed as a gunshot injury to the abdomen, the Coroner’s Court, presided over by Magistrate Temitope Oladele, has directed key witnesses, including police personnel on duty at Oko-Oba on October 24, 2020, to appear and give testimony.
Rights activists, journalist unions, and the deceased’s family continue to demand the public prosecution of the police officers who fired the shot and those who supervised the deployment during the Lagos #EndSARS demonstrations.