The management of the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, has insisted that the family of the late Senator Isiaka Adeleke did not request that the hospital should carry out an autopsy on the corpse of the departed politician.

The management also debunked the claim of the family that one of them wrote a letter of authorisation to the hospital to carry out a postmortem and paid a fee for it.

The hospital, in a statement issued by its Public Relations Officer, Mr Ayodele Adeyemo, made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Thursday, challenged the family of the deceased to produce the letter of authorisation.

The hospital said its pathologists conducted the autopsy in the most professional way and did not do anything unethical in the discharge of its duties while stressing that there was no political interest behind what they did.


Adeyemo explained that with the completion of forms B and C by the coroner, the investigation into the death had gone beyond a family issue to become a criminal investigation being conducted by the state.

The statement read, “The death of the late senator was first brought to the attention of the management by the Medical Director of Biket Hospital, where the senator’s body was first taken to.

The body was met at the LAUTECH hospital with some family members and law enforcement agents, including homicide detectives from the Nigeria Police.

“The homicide detectives handed the relevant coroner papers (forms B and C) to the hospital’s pathologist, the only authorised professional in charge of autopsy, in the presence of the family members.

“It is very important to state categorically that with the completion of forms B and C of the police, ab initio, it is clear that the issue of autopsy is beyond a family wanting to know the cause of death. The import is that the autopsy has become a full criminal investigation into the death. It needs to be stressed that the sudden death of any person at home is a coroner case that must be investigated by the police.  In a situation like that, the family no longer has a say in the matter.

“In line with global practice and in a case like the above, such reports are not given to the family because they could be regarded as potential suspects that should not be allowed to have a prior knowledge of the findings of the investigation. The full autopsy report was not even made available to the management of the hospital because the law does not permit the pathologist to do so.

“The so-called authorisation by one Mrs Dupe Adeleke-Sanni as disclosed by the family could not have been the case as the autopsy became a coroner’s case as stated above. What Mrs Dupe Adeleke-Sanni wrote after the completion of the autopsy was what she called a ‘Certificate of Honour’ to the hospital with following content, ‘On behalf of the Adeleke family, I, Mrs Dupe Sanni, hereby certify that the family is satisfied and confirm our confidence in the pathology examination conducted by the pathologist at the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, on Senator Isiaka Adeleke, and we are, therefore, not interested  in requesting for a repeat of the examination in any other hospital.’”

Adeyemo said the statement by the family was signed.

He said, “On the allegation of the payment of a fee for an autopsy, LAUTECH, like all other hospitals, works round the clock, tests, drugs and procedures can be done and be paid for at any time of the day. Indeed, LAUTECH, Osogbo, has a fully functional automated payment system that will issue receipts instantly.”