By Emmanuel Elebeke

Wonders, they say, shall never end. This saying aptly applies to the tale of the missing corpse of one Mr. Waheed Saka at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital as told by the Executive Director of Social and Economic Rights Center, SERAC, Dr. Felix Morka.

At a press conference in Lagos entitled, “Where is Waheed Saka’s Corpse”, Dr. Morka told the press that the body of Saka, who was allegedly shot to death by men of the Nigeria Police Force over a controversial land dispute in court and deposited in the LASUTH mortuary for autopsy report has been declared missing by the hospital management.

He expressed shock over the sudden disappearance of the corpse from the hospital morgue, operated and managed by TOS Funerals Limited on behalf of LASUTH.

The body of the late Saka became the subject matter of a coroner inquest before a Lagos High Court following the alleged shooting by men of the Nigeria Police Force that resulted to his death on December 23, 2010.

The police men, according to Vanguard Metro’s investigation, had accompanied the Lagos State Environment and Special Offences Unit, popularly known as the Lagos State Government Task Force on Environment to Wright Street in Adekunle area of Makoko in Yaba, Lagos to carry out a demolition exercise on the said date under the directive of one of the interested parties in the law suit.

The investigation further revealed that in the course of the demolition exercise, homes and properties of poor residents living on a private land that is a subject matter of pending law suits before Lagos High courts were destroyed.

The SERAC boss wondered how the LASUTH authority and the mortuary management could come up with a claim that the corpse, which was duly registered with them could be buried in an undisclosed mass grave without the knowledge of the family and the court, while expressing belief of foul play by the mortuary authorities and an attempt by those behind his killing to subvert the cause of justice.

According to Dr. Morka, SERAC got the hint of the recent development during a meeting, on Tuesday last week, with head of Pathology Unit of LASUTH, Professor John Obafunwa, who denied the knowledge of the corpse and rather referred them to TOS, the company in charge of the mortuary. And when they approached management of TOS Funerals Limited, it claimed that Saka’s body was mass-buried recently alongside other unclaimed bodies at an undisclosed location.

With the disappearance of the deceased’s body in LASUTH in total disregard to the court and right of the deceased by unknown persons and the subsequent buck-passing by the management of both the hospital and the mortuary, Dr. Morka sensed a deliberate attempt by the police to make things difficult for the cause of justice.

He further queried the justification of the mortuary management action, when it was aware of the coroner inquest and the inquiry ordered by the Lagos State government into the circumstances surrounding the death of the deceased.

He, however, appealed to the Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola to launch an immediate inquiry into the sudden disappearance of Saka’s body, especially the circumstance at which the body was allegedly mass-buried.

“We enjoin all well meaning Nigerians to demand that officials of the Lagos State Task Force on the Environment, the Police and the authorities of LASUTH to respect the human rights of Saka’s family and observe all applicable principles of rule of law,” he added. For SERAC, the action of the morgue management constitutes a further demonstration of the crass impunity displayed by the Taskforce and the Police in the matter. He therefore called for justice to be done on the matter.

Saka until his death, was a popular mechanic who was said to have been shot while trying to retrieve some of his working tools and to safeguard some of his customers valuables from being destroyed. Several others numbering over 30 received life-threatening gunshot injuries which included the aged, while some under-aged persons were arrested and subsequently detained for several days in Adeniji and Panti police stations.