Journalist Pelumi Onifade, who was reportedly shot and arrested while covering the #EndSARS protests in Lagos in October 2020, died from a firearm injury to the abdomen, according to a postmortem report by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).
The nine-page report, finalized and signed on July 30, 2026, said a firearm projectile entered Onifade’s body through the lower back, causing extensive abdominal injuries and massive internal bleeding.
The report listed the cause of death as “massive haemoperitoneum” and “penetrating firearms injury to the abdomen.”
The postmortem examination was conducted at the LASUTH morgue on November 4, 2020, by Consultant Pathologist, Professor Sunday Sokunle Soyemi, with Professor John Oladapo Obafunwa, Supervising Consultant, in attendance. The examination was authorised by the Coroner, Mrs Bola Folarin-Williams.
The body, identified as No. 1385, was confirmed to be that of Onifade through DNA analysis conducted by the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre.
According to the report, the massive haemoperitoneum indicated a large accumulation of blood in the abdominal cavity resulting from internal injuries caused by the projectile.
The pathologist said the injuries were “consistent with a firearm injury to the abdomen with the ricochet of the missile.”
The autopsy also found “bony spicules embedded in the soft tissue of the abdomen”, consistent with a penetrating firearm injury, as well as a fracture of the fifth lumbar vertebra.
The report stated that the projectile travelled in a posterior-to-anterior, right-to-left and infero-superior direction, indicating that it entered from the back and travelled through the lower abdominal and pelvic region towards the upper part of the body.
The findings have been submitted to the Coroner’s Court convened by the Lagos State Government following an order of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The inquest followed a suit filed by Media Rights Agenda (MRA) against the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Police Force, seeking an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Onifade’s death.
In a judgment delivered on July 19, 2024, Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji directed the Lagos State Attorney-General to take steps to investigate the circumstances of Onifade’s death and conduct a coroner’s inquest to establish the cause of death and identify and prosecute those responsible.
The postmortem report further noted that Onifade had no identifiable signs of significant natural disease. It also recorded that his face was clean-shaven, his fingernails and toenails were short and clean, and that there were no scars, tattoos or other distinguishing marks.
The report concluded that the forensic medical evidence showed that Onifade sustained fatal injuries from a firearm projectile that penetrated the abdominal region, causing extensive internal damage and haemorrhage.
For more information, please contact:
Idowu Adewale (Mr.)
Communications Officer
Media Rights Agenda
Tel: +2348065240610
E-mail: idowu@mediarightsagenda.org
