Lagos govt asks persons who lost loved ones to come forward

In what it described as an identified exercise of the deceased, the Lagos State government has called on all persons who lost their family members between October 19 and 27 to come forward with evidence.

The call, contained in a public announcement in a national newspaper, on Wednesday, specifically asked concerned next-of-kins of victims to contact the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, for the identification exercise to span the next two weeks.

Categorised as eligible next-of-kin to come forward to make claims of bodies for burial are parents, siblings or children.

The public notice signed by the Chief Coroner of Lagos state, Honourable Justice M.A. Dada, mandates next-of-kin to come along with clear photographs of the missing person, their own upper body photographs, while samples for reference DNA profile may also be demanded.

However, the notice held that it’s only after a definitive scientific identification where the profile of next-of-kin is compared with autopsy already collected from the deceased that the bodies will be released.

Those coming forward are expected to present means of identification of themselves and their loved ones such as International passport, driver’s license, National Identity card or LASSRA identity card.

The announcement titled, “Coroner’s call for Identification of Missing Persons”, reads in parts, “This is to notify the general public that the Chief Coroner of Lagos State, Honourable Justice M.A. Dada (Mrs) pursuant to Section 15, Coroner’s System Law of Lagos State, 2015 the Pathology Team would want all those who have lost loved ones between October 19 – 27, 2020 (that is, next-of-kin of the victims) to provide relevant information that would assist the identification exercise.”

“The next-of-kin will be required to provide means of identification of themselves and their loved ones. Only the parents, siblings or children, in that decreasing order of preference are expected to come to the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja.

“The profile will be compared with those already collected at autopsy from the deceased. It is only after a definitive scientific identification that the bodies of the deceased shall be released by the office of the Chief Coroner to the next-of-kin for burial.” (Nigerian Tribune)