The Media Rights Agenda (MRA) has called on the Lagos State Government to adhere to a Federal High Court ruling directing a thorough investigation into the death of Pelumi Onifade, a 20-year-old reporter with Gboah TV, who was allegedly arrested by the police while covering the #EndSARS protests in 2020 and later found dead.
In a letter dated August 22, 2024, addressed to the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, MRA’s lawyer, Mr. Kingsley Kenechukwu, urged the government to “comply with the directives of the honorable court so that justice would be seen to be done and hope given to the common man that there is still justice in the judicial system.”
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The letter emphasized the court’s July 19, 2024 decision by Justice Ayokunle Olayinka Faji, which ordered the Attorney-General to take “all necessary steps to see to the investigation of the circumstances of the death of Pelumi Onifade and to conduct a coroner’s inquest to ascertain the cause of the death.”
MRA’s lawyer also reminded the Attorney-General of the commitment made in a counter-affidavit filed on March 20, 2023, where he stated that any person against whom a prima facie case was established in connection to Mr. Onifade’s death would be prosecuted.
During oral arguments on May 13, 2024, in the suit filed by MRA against the Lagos State Government and the Police, the Attorney-General’s representative, Mr. A. Amu, had expressed readiness to conduct an inquest into the young journalist’s death. MRA is now urging the government to honor that commitment in the interest of justice.
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MRA’s legal action against the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, the Inspector-General of Police, and the Attorney-General sought a declaration that the shooting of Mr. Onifade by police officers on October 24, 2020, in the Agege area of Lagos, during the course of his journalistic duties, was unconstitutional and a violation of his fundamental rights. While the court found no evidence to support MRA’s claim that Onifade died in police custody, it nonetheless ordered an investigation to identify and prosecute those responsible for his death.