Etim Effiong
Nigerians on social media have reacted with outrage after the management of Mainland Hospital, Lagos said it received a directive from the Lagos State Ministry of Health not to release corpses of suspected #EndSARS protesters.
PUNCH visited the hospital after the chief coroner of Lagos Mojisola Dada announced publicly that people who lost loved ones between October 19 and 27 should visit the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital to identify and claim bodies of their loved ones.
The #EndSARS protest police brutality engulfed the state throughout October, climaxing on October 20 when men in military uniform opened fire at the protesters at Lekki toll gate.
The public notice by the coroner did not state if the bodies that had been scheduled for release also included those of persons who died during the #EndSARS protest.
But the front desk staff told the newspaper that there was a clear directive from the state government for morgue attendants to release only the bodies of those who died before and after the #EndSARS protests.
“If an individual was part of the #ENDSARS protest, we cannot identify or do anything about it for now,” one of the attendants said, refusing to give name.
The hospital medical director Dr. Abimbola Bowale corroborated what the attendant had said.
“It is only the commissioner (of health) or even Mr. Governor that can release the body to you, Sir. So, you will have to contact him,” he said.