Court orders LASG to probe journalist’s death

The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the Lagos State Government to probe the death of a 20-year reporter with Gboah TV, an online television channel, Pelumi Onifade, who was reportedly arrested by officers attached to the Lagos State Task Force while covering the #EndSARS protests in 2020.

The reporter was reportedly found dead at a mortuary in Ikorodu in Lagos, where his body was deposited, in the aftermath of the nationwide protest against police brutality which led to the disbandment of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

According to a Tuesday statement by the Communications Officer, Media Rights Agenda, Idowu Adewale, the court also ordered the state government to conduct a coroner’s inquest to ascertain the cause of the death of Onifade as well as identify and prosecute those responsible.

In November 2020, the management of Gboah TV confirmed the death of Onifade, who was earlier declared missing on October 24, 2020.

In a statement, the station said young Onifade was covering the scene of a mob attack at a government facility in the Oko Oba area of Agege Local Government when operatives of the Task Force stormed the scene and engaged hoodlums who attempted to loot palliatives at the Ministry of Agriculture’s store in the Abattoir area of the state.

“Onifade Pelumi died while covering the scenes at the site of the palliative storage centre. He will be deeply missed,” the statement partly said.

Delivering judgment in a suit filed by MRA over the death of the journalist against the police and the Lagos State Government, Justice Ayokunle Faji agreed that the government’s chief law officer “cannot just conduct an inquest without a duplicate of the case file” but he ruled that Section 74 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State gives the Attorney General the power to request for a case file from the Commissioner of Police.

A Lagos-based lawyer, Charles Musa, who was selected for conferment of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, filed an originating summons on August 4, 2021, on behalf of MRA, against the Commissioner of Police, the Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General of Lagos State.

In the suit, the organisation urged the court to declare that: “Onifade’s shooting in Oko Oba in Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State by agents of the Commissioner of Police and the IGP on October 24, 2020, in the course of his journalistic work is unconstitutional and a gross violation of his fundamental rights as guaranteed by Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

In his judgment, Justice Faji stressed that the Attorney General was not alleged to have known about the alleged unlawful killing of Onifade and was also not accused of being involved in the killing but that as stated by MRA, he has a duty to conduct an inquest into the circumstances of the death.

He said: “Indeed, in paragraph 15 of the counter­ affidavit, the 3rd respondent (the Attorney General) has stated that he would prosecute anyone found to have a prima facie case established against him.”

Justice Faji therefore directed the Attorney General to take all necessary steps to see to the investigation of the circumstances of the death of Onifade and to conduct a coroner’s inquest to ascertain the cause of the death as well as identify and prosecute those responsible for his death.