Six years after Pelumi Onifade vanished while covering the EndSARS protests, a DNA result has confirmed that an unidentified body recovered in the aftermath of the unrest belongs to the missing journalist. The Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre presented the result to the Coroner Court, and Pelumi’s mother, Mrs. Adebose Onifade, broke down in tears as investigating Magistrate Temitope Oladele confirmed the match between the body and a reference sample she had submitted, Apples Bite Magazine reports.
The breakthrough comes after years of legal pressure from the Onifade family and Media Rights Agenda (MRA), who filed a wrongful-death suit against the Nigeria Police and the Lagos State Government. A Federal High Court judgment by Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji on July 19, 2024 had directed the state Attorney-General to investigate Pelumi’s death and order a coroner’s inquest to establish what happened to him and who was responsible.
The case gained fresh momentum on May 22, 2026, when MRA lawyer Alimi Adamu pushed the coroner to order the Chief Medical Examiner at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to release the autopsy report on a body tagged No. 1385 within 21 days. That order traced back to a LASUTH report from March 24, 2026, which disclosed that autopsies had been carried out on six bodies brought to the hospital on November 3, 2020, with DNA samples from those bodies and from grieving families forwarded to the forensic centre for matching.
When the matter resumed in court on June 23, 2026, both of Pelumi’s parents were present. Lawyers for MRA and the family told the court that the earlier orders had been served on LASUTH and asked for direction on next steps. Magistrate Oladele said she had received no formal response from the hospital but disclosed she was already holding a sealed document from the DNA and Forensic Centre confirming the match.
Oladele acknowledged that LASUTH was under pressure, admitting the hospital was overwhelmed, but maintained that the autopsy should have been concluded by now. Adamu pushed back, telling the court that the family had waited too long for closure and that the repeated need for follow-up orders pointed to non-compliance with the court’s earlier directives. He also flagged the police’s continued denial of ever holding Pelumi in custody, even as public and media scrutiny over his disappearance and death during the October 24, 2020 EndSARS protests has only grown.
The coroner warned that she could resort to coercive measures if LASUTH continued to stall but said she preferred to exhaust administrative channels first. She ordered one final reminder to be sent to the hospital and instructed MRA’s lawyers to visit LASUTH in person to push for compliance, warning that failure to act would force the court to deploy its full powers to compel the release of the autopsy report. The case has been adjourned to July 7, 2026.
