UNESCO wants investigation into death of Nigerian journalist Pelumi Onifade

Paris, France (PANA) - UNESCO Managing Director Audrey Azoulaye Wednesday called on Nigerian authorities to shed light on the death of 20-year-old journalist Pelumi Onifade.

Onifade was an intern with Gboah TV channel broadcasting in Lagos whose body was found in a morgue at Lagos suburb in Nigeria, two weeks after his arrest on 24 October by the police.

“I call the Nigerian authorities to open deep investigation into the circumstances of the death of Pelumi Onifade. Journalists covering demonstrations are key actors of rule of law and it is very essential they can do their job in all safety,” said the Director of the UN agency who promotes the security of journalists.

Onifade had been deployed to make a report on a gathering before a depot containing food on 24 October in Agege, suburb of Lagos.

Eye witnesses said the police then dispersed the crowd with violence and arrested the reporter although he was wearing a jacket identifying him as a journalist.

Since that date, he did not return home and his family, who had signaled his disappearance two weeks later found his body in the morgue of Ikorodu, on the outskirts of Lagos.

Reporteurs sans Frontières (RSF) also denounced these serious events and called for immediate investigation to clarify the circumstances of the death of the Nigerian trainee reporter whose body “bears the marks of a bullet”, according to the lawyer of the family of the journalist.

According to RSF, Onifade  is the third journalist killed in the country while covering demonstrations in more than one year.

Precious Owolabi and Alex Ogbu, two journalists, were shot dead in 2019 and 2020 respectively in the course of their duties but their killers have not yet been identified.

-0-   PANA     BM/TBM/MSA/RA    18Nov2020