Six Years After #EndSARS, Mother Still Seeks Son’s Remains as Police Fire Tear Gas

Six Years After #EndSARS, Mother Still Seeks Son’s Remains as Police Fire Tear Gas

Six years after the #EndSARS protests shook Nigeria, Bosede Onifade is still waiting to bury her son, Pelumi Onifade, a young journalist who disappeared while covering the demonstrations in Lagos in October 2020.

Pelumi, who was 20 years old and worked with Gboah TV, went missing during the protests against police brutality. His family has spent years searching for answers about his death and demanding the release of his remains.

Despite developments in the investigation, his mother says the family has yet to find closure.

Speaking with Daily Trust on Tuesday, Bosede said she would continue to demand justice for her son, insisting that the family deserved to know what happened to him and be allowed to give him a proper burial.

“Don’t I have a right to demand my son’s remains, even if they say he is dead? What do I tell my God? Do I tell Him that I cannot account for the son He gave me?” she asked.

She described the prolonged uncertainty as a painful experience, saying the family had been unable to move on because Pelumi had not been laid to rest.

“I feel so bad every day about his death and the fact that he has not been buried. People should fear God. I know I don’t know people, but I have God. The matter is still in court,” she said.

According to her, the family had high hopes for the young journalist, whom they believed would make a significant contribution to their future.

“I always remember his promise to make the family proud. We all looked up to him as the future of the family, but his life was cut short, and we couldn’t even get his corpse six years after,” she added.

Onifade disappeared in October 2020 while reporting on the #EndSARS protests in Lagos. Accounts of the incident alleged that he was shot and taken away by operatives of the Lagos State Police Task Force during an operation to disperse protesters.

His disappearance prompted an extensive search by his family, who continued to seek information about his whereabouts and the circumstances surrounding his death.

The search eventually led to an unidentified body at a government hospital mortuary in Ikorodu, Lagos State. The remains, registered under identification number 1385, became central to efforts to establish whether the body belonged to the missing journalist.

In 2024, the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death following a suit filed by Media Rights Agenda.

Further legal proceedings, including a coroner’s inquest, were subsequently pursued to establish the identity of the remains and determine the circumstances surrounding the death.

Reports in 2026 indicated that DNA testing had confirmed that the remains belonged to Onifade. However, his mother’s demand for the release of her son’s remains and accountability for his death has remained unresolved.

His case continues to highlight the difficulties faced by families seeking answers about loved ones who died or disappeared during the #EndSARS protests and the subsequent security crackdown.

The #EndSARS movement began in October 2020 after years of complaints against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a police unit accused of extortion, harassment, unlawful arrests, torture, profiling and extrajudicial killings.

Thousands of young Nigerians took to the streets to demand the disbandment of the unit, an end to police brutality and comprehensive reforms of the country’s policing system.

The demonstrations attracted international attention, particularly after security operatives opened fire on protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020.

The Federal Government denied that soldiers had shot at demonstrators. Lai Mohammed, who was the Minister of Information and Culture at the time, dismissed reports of a massacre as a “phantom massacre”.

However, the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, established to investigate the incident, found that protesters had been shot at, injured and killed.

The Lagos State Government subsequently rejected key aspects of the panel’s findings, including parts of its conclusions concerning casualties.

In the aftermath of the protests, police authorities announced the disbandment of SARS and introduced the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team to take over some of its responsibilities in tackling armed robbery and other violent crimes.

The decision, however, failed to convince all critics that meaningful change had taken place.

Many protesters questioned whether the new unit would operate differently from SARS or simply continue the same practices under another name.

A 2023 assessment of the #EndSARS movement observed that distrust persisted over the replacement of SARS with SWAT, with concerns that the change might not address the underlying problems within the police force.

Human rights lawyer Onyeisi Chiemeke said publicly available, independently verified evidence was insufficient to establish whether SWAT had significantly reduced police brutality or restored public confidence in the police.

He maintained that reports of police harassment and brutality against young Nigerians continued after the disbandment of SARS.

“If the creation of SWAT had addressed the issue, then there would have been no need for the creation of multiple checkpoints,” he said.

Chiemeke argued that lasting police reform required more than changing the name or structure of a tactical unit. He stressed the importance of accountability and consequences for officers accused of misconduct.

He also referred to findings by Human Rights Watch, which reported that it had been unable to establish whether security personnel had been arrested or tried for their roles in the crackdown on protesters. The organisation also documented accounts of demonstrators who sustained gunshot injuries.

“The experience of the #EndSARS protests demonstrated that public confidence in the police depends not only on the ability to arrest suspects and prevent violent crime but also on transparency, professional conduct and credible consequences for misconduct,” he added.

Meanwhile, police fired tear gas on Tuesday to disperse activists and concerned Nigerians who gathered at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos to mark the sixth anniversary of the #EndSARS protests.

The gathering was organised to remember those who lost their lives and renew calls for justice, police accountability and reforms.

The use of tear gas disrupted the commemoration, forcing participants to flee as the gas spread across the area.

Among those present were Funso Doherty, the Lagos State governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), and Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

Despite the disruption, the activists vowed to continue demanding justice and the reforms that inspired the 2020 demonstrations.

The incident also renewed concerns about the treatment of Nigerians who gather at the toll gate to commemorate the protests.

In October 2021, police fired tear gas during a memorial procession organised by young Nigerians and celebrities to honour victims of police brutality.

Hakeem Odumosu, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police at the time, said officers had dispersed individuals he described as “miscreants”, rather than participants in the memorial procession.

A similar incident occurred in 2024 when police used tear gas to disperse protesters marking the fourth anniversary of the demonstrations.

The protesters had demanded the full implementation of recommendations made by judicial panels established after the 2020 protests. Police authorities said officers acted after the demonstrators refused to disperse.

Six years after the #EndSARS movement began, the continued demand for justice, the unresolved questions surrounding Pelumi Onifade’s death and repeated disruptions of memorial gatherings remain reminders of the issues that brought thousands of Nigerians onto the streets in 2020.