The mortician who received the corpse of journalist, Tordue Henry Salem on October 13, 2021, said the body came in very late that fateful night.
Vanguard quotes the middle aged man, who only identified himself as Mohammed, as saying: “We registered it (body) as unknown corpse because there was nothing to identify him. It was the next day I found his ID cards and other items.
‘’It was because of this I placed a call to the policeman to come down but he refused to come after I explained everything to him and he promised to come.
“I saw the items while we were stitching the dismembered body. He brought the body in the night with an FRSC officer in a Road Safety vehicle. But when we were stitching the body, I found items, including the ID cards and immediately called the policeman.
‘’That first time, he picked my call and we spoke. After informing him of the ID cards and the need to come pick them so as to inform the relatives, he stopped picking my calls, even after assuring me that he was coming.’’
On why it took the hospital so many days to disclose the information, he stated: “It’s not our work to look for the relatives, it’s only that of the police.”
Furthermore, Mohammed spoke on how the body of Salem was identified by the Intelligence Response Team (IRT). He said: “When the IRT came, they asked whether we had any unclaimed corpse here and I answered that we have many here and they asked again whether we received any body here on October 13.
‘’When I answered in the affirmative, they now brought the picture of the person they were looking for and the name. I took them inside to see the body brought on the day and the ID cards we found on the body and they confirmed that it was the person they were looking for.”
When informed that the family has distanced itself from the body in the mortuary as that of their son, he responded: “That doesn’t concern us, the policeman should come out and clarify the issue.
“The policeman’s name is Isaiah Olumu from Utako Division. He brought the body in company of an FRSC officer. But while the policeman left his number behind, the Road Safety man didn’t.”
Prior to his death, Salem was a journalist covering activities in the House of Representatives for Vanguard newspapers.
He went missing on October 13, 2021 and his corpse was later found in Wuse General Hospital by the police after 30 days.
Police authorities, however, said the late reporter was killed by a hit-and-run commercial driver identified as Itoro Clement, on the night of his disappearance.
