Sunday Chima Samuel was never born, but he died.

Many Nigerians dread visiting public parastatals to request documents or submit applications and find the processes nerve-racking. If Nigerians had a choice, they would avoid it completely.

I had braced myself for a similar experience when I visited the mortuary at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Yaba, in the company of my colleague to inquire about obtaining a death certificate.

I did not need a death certificate. I only wanted to see if it was that easy to get death certificates as I had heard stories of people waking up one day to find out their bank accounts were emptied after someone submitted certificates to financial institutions certifying them dead while they were alive.

There were also stories of living retirees losing their gratuity to relatives who submitted death certificates to their former employers to claim their gratuity.

These stories formed the basis for my investigation.

THE GENESIS

It had rained heavily the night before September 26 when my colleague and I visited IDH Yaba. The streets held souvenirs of the rain that had fallen the night before and our shoes bore witness to it.

As we approached the morgue entrance, our damp, mud-speckled shoes gave us away as people who needed help.

Walking a short distance from the COVID-19 Isolation area to the mortuary, we spotted a group of men dressed in black and white at the gate, engaged in a loud conversation.

Before we even reached the facility, a man approached us and asked us what we were there for. We explained that we had come to inquire about obtaining a death certificate and he asked us to wait while he spoke with a colleague.

Some minutes later, a man who introduced himself as Samuel appeared. His full name is Oluwatosin Samuel Adedeji. He looked at my colleague suspiciously after we explained our mission to him. Adedeji told my colleague that he had seen him before.

In truth, though, my colleague visited the IDH Mortuary for a report in March 2023, but Adedeji turned him down, stating that he could not speak with a journalist.

Reiterating our purpose, we explained that we needed a death certificate for Sunday Chima Samuel, a “relative” who had passed away the day before. Adedeji inquired if we intended to use the document to claim inheritance or access an insurance or bank account, but we assured him it was merely for formality.

Sunday Chima Samuel held different identities for us.

To Adedeji, Samuel was our 26-year-old cousin who had lived with my family after his parents abandoned him until he drew his last breath on September 24 after a painful ordeal.

To the National Population Commission (NPC), Sunday Chima Samuel was a 26-year-old man somehow “born” on March 14, 1998, in Ebute Metta, Yaba and Oregun, Ikeja, at the same time and died on September 25, 2024 — a miracle only the NPC could perform.

READ MORE: UNDERCOVER: With N13,500 Bribe, National Population Commission Made Me ‘Born Again’ at Different Locations (I)

For us, however, Sunday Chima Samuel was nothing more than an imaginary individual who, on two occasions, had already proved that a lot was wrong with the documentation of Nigerians’ details in 2024.

‘I WILL NOT DO IT FOR FREE’

“Is this really for formality’s sake, or are you using it to claim something? Be specific. If it is for a claim, I don’t do that anymore. But if it is just to handle the burial or move the body, I can help,” Adedeji told FIJ.

Adedeji did not offer guidance, so my colleague asked what we needed to do to get the death certificate. He told us it would cost us N10,000, and the only details needed were the deceased’s name, address, gender, time and cause of death.

We mentioned that we didn’t know the exact cause of death, only that the deceased had been vomiting blood. My colleague then asked if we could state food poisoning as the cause, but Adedeji said such a specific cause could only be confirmed after an autopsy, which would cost N400,000.

READ ALSO: INVESTIGATION: Injuries, Tears and Blood… The Death Toll of Dangote Refinery

“But an autopsy is not compulsory in this case unless you want to take the matter to court,” Adedeji said.

Before we left, he sounded a note of warning:

“If you come back and say it was Samuel who did it for you. I will deny it.”

We left the mortuary premises to withdraw cash from an ATM. I returned afterwards and paid Adedeji. Later that day, he sent a picture of the completed certificate as confirmation.

The next morning, my colleague returned to IDH Yaba to collect the certificate for Sunday Chima Samuel. We had an authentic document declaring an imaginary cousin dead, even though he never lived.

Curious to know if that was the process in other hospitals and if other hospitals issued death certificates without requesting to see a dead body to examine the body to be able to ascertain the medical cause of death, I visited the Mushin General Hospital.

The rain that had bid the earth goodbye the previous night returned on my way to the Mushin General Hospital.

A man stood at the gate while another sat underneath an umbrella in front of the hospital.

As I was about to walk into the hospital premises, the man who stood at the gate stopped me and asked where I was going.

When I told him I came to make enquiries about the issuance of death certificates, he told me not to bother going in because no one would attend to me inside the hospital since the person I needed to get a death certificate for did not die there.

Just as I was about to take my leave, he called me back and told me he knew someone who could help.

He introduced me to the man sitting under the umbrella outside the hospital and asked me to explain what I needed. When I did, the man who sat under the umbrella beckoned me to follow him into a restaurant some steps away from the hospital. I obliged.

The restaurant was quite busy with customers making orders and waitresses taking them. While the voices of both customers and waitresses filled my ears, the aroma of the food escaped the pots and made its way into my nostrils.

I spoke audibly enough for him to hear but in tones too low for the person at the other table.

As soon as I told the man, who later introduced himself as Bode, that I needed a death certificate for my cousin who had died after vomiting blood, his mood turned sour.

Unlike Adedeji who was direct and straight to the point, Bode was different. He was interested in the life and death of Sunday.

“Ah!” he exclaimed as Nigerians did whenever they heard sad news.

Although he never said he was sorry for my loss, his facial expression and mannerisms showed that he was indeed displeased with the death of a 26-year-old Sunday.

READ ALSO: From Nigeria to Burkina Faso: Undercover as a Trafficked Person

“What killed him?” he continued.

I told him I had no idea what the cause of his death was as I was told he was vomiting blood. As every word escaped my lips to make complete sentences, he shook his head in slow motion repeatedly to show sympathy.

After I was done speaking, Bode told me all I needed to do was provide him with the personal details of the deceased and also asked that I pay N15,000 to get the death certificate done. I asked for his phone number and sent him the details he requested on WhatsApp.

When I sent Bode a text message on WhatsApp later that day, he said he could provide me with another death certificate that I could use to claim inheritance or funds from Sunday’s account.

He added that it would cost N20,000 and require him to get an affidavit from the court on my behalf. When I asked if I needed to appear in court to get it done, he informed me all I needed to do was pay.

I did not proceed any further with him.

N25,000 FOR A DEATH CERTIFICATE AND HOSPITAL CARD

If I were a cat, I’d have died in the cold hands of curiosity. But since I am human, curiosity only gave me the strength and courage to unravel the lapses in the issuance of death certificates in Lagos hospitals.

With the strength of my curiosity, I could lift my feet and sit for long minutes in buses till I arrived at the Ebute Metta Health Centre, where I was introduced to another person who issued a second death certificate for Sunday, our imaginary cousin.

I greeted some women I saw sitting outside the health centre as soon as I walked in. One of the women sized me up and asked why I was at the hospital.

Immediately I told her I had come to get a death certificate, she told me the exact words I had heard at the Mushin General Hospital — I would not get a death certificate there because the deceased was not pronounced dead in that hospital.

I was ready to call it a day as my strength started to wear out and my curiosity waned. I recovered my strength as soon as one of the women listening to our conversation pulled me to the side.

She asked me if I could go to Lagos Island and that she knew someone who could help me get a death certificate there. I told her I did not mind, and she gave me the phone number of a staff member at the General Hospital in Odan.

When I called him, he introduced himself as Fatai and gave me directions to the hospital from Ebute Metta. I followed his directions and in less than an hour I was waiting outside the hospital for Fatai.

At the hospital, Fatai asked what I needed the certificate for. I told him Sunday, who had gotten a girl pregnant just before his demise, had a piece of land in the village and we needed to sell the land and give her the proceeds so she could cater for the needs of the unborn child.

Fatai told me that he would issue an “authentic” death certificate that I could use to prove Sunday’s death and repossess the piece of land. He told me it would cost N25,000.

“It is N25,000. You can use it to claim the land. I will give you a hospital card to make it look like we attended to him here before he died. This will make it authentic,” said Fatai.

I paid him N25,000 via bank transfer. True to his words, he handed me the death certificate with Sunday’s details and a hospital card.

‘THE HOSPITALS DID NOT FOLLOW DUE PROCESS’

The processes by which I got the death certificates from the hospitals do not align with the World Health Organisation’s recommendations.

WHO recommends the body of a deceased has to be carefully examined, and the deceased’s medical records have to be reviewed before a person is certified dead by a hospital.

However, when I visited the hospitals, no one requested to see a dead body, neither did hospital staff carry out a physical examination of the body of the deceased before they issued death certificates for Sunday, a non-existent individual.

READ ALSO: UNDERCOVER: With N45,000, I Got Valid Police Character Certificate for Kirikiri Prison Inmate

The statements from two Nigerian medical doctors corroborated WHO’s recommendations and they told FIJ that it was wrong and unethical for hospitals to issue death certificates without requesting to see a dead body.

When FIJ narrated these events to Idowu Winner, a medical director, he found it shocking because it was not due process. He said that it was wrong and unethical for hospitals to certify a person dead without requesting to examine a dead body.

“When one requests a death certificate from a hospital, they check their electronic records for the details of the patient. Then a doctor is told to write the death certificate because the death certificate includes the cause of death,” Winner told FIJ on October 20.

“In General Hospital, Odan, where you went, they use Electronic Medical Records (EMR). That is why I am surprised you got death certificates for a non-existing patient. The person who gave you the death certificate made you get a card so they could forge documentation. That is not right at all.”

Motunrayo Babalola (not real name), another medical doctor, told FIJ that there were different procedures for certifying a person dead by a hospital depending on the circumstances surrounding the death.

Babalola told FIJ that if a person died in a hospital, the doctors would have spotted some clinical signs that would help them ascertain the cause of death for the issuance of the death certificate.

“Death certificates from hospitals entail the time of death, biodata of the patient and cause of death. For patients in the wards, there are some clinical signs we would have seen and the nurses would alert the doctor. Because the patient died in the hospital, the doctors will have an idea of the cause of death, and the person will be certified clinically dead,” said Babalola.

“Doctors are supposed to note the time the person died and the person that certified him dead will be in charge of filling the death certificate. The dead patient will then be moved to the morgue. At the morgue, depending on the hospital process, the doctor that certified the dead is supposed to write the death certificate.”

She said the process was different for people who died outside the hospital. Babalola noted that the body of the deceased has to be taken to a hospital and examined by a doctor before being certified dead.

In this case, the doctor would take the medical history from the relatives of the deceased and use it to ascertain the possible cause of death.

“If someone was poisoned and rushed to the hospital and dies in the process of resuscitating him/her, an autopsy has to be conducted before a death certificate can be issued because it could be a criminal case,” she added.

“But if the deceased did not give up the ghost in a hospital, the body is supposed to be taken to the hospital where a doctor would certify him/her dead. Then collect his medical history from the relatives about the possible cause of death. An autopsy has to be conducted if there are suspicions of foul play.”

N10,000 FOR A DEATH CERTIFICATE FROM THE NPC

I learnt during my investigation that the certificates I got from the hospitals were medical certificates of cause of death and were used to certify a person as clinically dead.

The medical cause of death is then presented to the National Population Commission (NPC)’s birth and death registration centres to obtain a death certificate from the NPC.

According to the NPC, death certificates provide legal evidence relevant to claims of property, insurance benefits relating to deceased persons, the right of surviving spouses to remarry, and family allowances.

Armed with this information and two medical cause of death certificates, I went to the NPC birth and death registration centre at the Amuwo Odofin Local Government office on November 6.

As soon as I informed a male staff member I had come to inquire about how I could get a death certificate issued by the NPC, he asked if I had a medical cause of death. I replied in the affirmative and showed him a picture of one of the medical certificates of cause of death I got for Sunday Chima Samuel on my phone.

“How old is the person who died?” he asked, looking up from the phone.

I told him he was 26 years old at the time of his death.

“Ehh!” he exclaimed, showing sympathy. “May we not die before our time,” he continued.

As soon as those words left his mouth, he told me I had to pay N10,000 to get it done and it would be ready that day. I paid him in cash and got the certificate in less than two hours.

When I received it, I told him he had made a mistake with the date of death. He told me he would correct it and I would have to come get it the following day.

The rot in the issuance of death certificates also extends to the NPC.

According to the requirements for the registration of death certificates listed on the NPC website, informants must provide their National Identification Numbers (NIN) when applying to register the death of a deceased person to obtain a death certificate from the NPC.

At the NPC birth and death registration office in Amuwo Odofin LGA office, the NPC staff did not ask me to provide my NIN but went ahead to issue a death certificate just by taking a look at a picture of the medical certificate on my phone.

This was not the staff’s only wrongdoing. Information on the NPC website implies that death registration is free. But this staff took N10,000 from me.

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FAKE DEATH CERTIFICATES, TRAFFICKING, JAILBREAKS, INHERITANCE AND PENSION SCAMS

When the due process for issuing certificates such as this is not observed, it opens the window for criminal-minded Nigerians to perpetrate crimes and escape the wrath of the law if such is not detected.

Walliyullahi Adekanye, a lawyer, told FIJ that there is a connection between the lapses in the issuance of death certificates and the perpetration of crimes.

According to Adekanye, if people could get death certificates without appropriate checks put in place to curb the lapses, it would contribute to a spike in criminal activities.

“Once there is a glitch in the system, people will definitely use it illegally. The lapses in the issuance of death certificates will affect the maintenance of law and order in Nigeria because some criminals could easily get death certificates for themselves, escape from prison and travel out of the country,” Adekanye told FIJ.

A couple of FIJ reports also corroborate Adekanye’s position. A police character certificate is required for people emigrating from Nigeria. FIJ recently published an investigation exposing the lapses in issuing police character certificates by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

Convicts planning an escape or those who have escaped from correctional facilities could take advantage of the lapses in the issuance of death certificates and birth certificates to claim they are dead, get a new identity with a new birth certificate, and also use the police character certificate to claim they have zero criminal records.

This is particularly disturbing in a country like Nigeria with reoccurring jailbreaks and inaccurate documentation of inmates.

In October, FIJ reported that despite recent jailbreaks in Nigeria, the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) website contained only details of inmates who escaped from the Kuje Prison on July 5, 2022. When FIJ checked the page on November 7, the page was the same as FIJ met it in October.

Since the 2022 Kuje Prison jailbreak, Nigeria has seen at least two more incidents. In April, 118 inmates escaped from the Suleja correctional facility in Niger State overnight.

The most recent case is the Maiduguri jailbreak in September which saw over 200 inmates escape from a prison following the flood that plagued the lives of thousands of Maiduguri residents after the Alau Dam collapsed.

As the lawyer explained, escapees can use these lapses to escape serving their complete sentence.

People who have been named suspects in crimes can also take advantage of the lapses in the issuance of death certificates to obtain fake death certificates bearing their names and evade prosecution.

READ ALSO: Undercover as a Smuggler

Adekanye told FIJ that convicts using the lapses in the issuance of death certificates to escape was not the only issue to be concerned about. He said it could also pave the way for human traffickers to traffic their victims out of Nigeria easily.

Every year, thousands of Nigerians are trafficked out of the country for slavery, prostitution and organ harvest in other countries. These traffickers utilise different means to capture their victims. While some are forced or coerced into it, others are abducted.

“Human traffickers can easily get the death certificate of their victims and claim they are dead while they are being trafficked for prostitution or slavery,” Adekanye said.

There have also been instances where the relatives of pensioners submitted fake death certificates to claim the gratuity of their relatives even while they were still alive.

In 2022, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) disclosed how pensioners and their relatives would fake their deaths and obtain fake death certificates to claim gratuity benefits.

“Nigerians have been dying and resurrecting. If you send us a notification that you are dead, we will make sure that your bank blocks your account also. We have seen people fake their own deaths; we have seen spouses fake the deaths of their partners when the PFAs start the due process,” Obiora Ibeziako, PenCom’s benefit and insurance department head, said in an interview with The Punch.

“In fact, in a particular case, they were processing a man’s death benefit and he walked in and everybody picked up. The wife had actually procured obituary announcement, everything required to be done without the man knowing.”

The issuance of death certificates for individuals who are still alive is not news for some Nigerians. They date back to 2015 and have been used to conduct electoral fraud.

A news report by Premium Times published in 2015 revealed how John Oyegun, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman at the time, substituted Christopher Anirah as its candidate for the Okpe/Sapele/Uvwie Federal Constituency election into the House of Representatives by claiming he was dead while he was still alive.

APC submitted a death certificate claiming Anirah was dead alongside other fake documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove him from the race and replace him with another candidate.

There have also been cases of Nigerians lamenting how their accounts were wiped out after people submitted fake death certificates to their banks and insurance companies to lay claims to their funds.

In 2023, Anthony Olasele, a Nigerian in the diaspora, discovered his bank account was emptied after Tina Olasele, who claimed to be his wife, submitted fake death certificates to his bank claiming he was dead while he was still alive to access the funds in his bank account.

Polaris Bank, Olasele’s bank, placed a post-no-debit (PND) order on his account, due to his alleged death, thus restricting him from performing transactions on his account.

These were done by getting a death certificate claiming he was dead while he was alive. This was made possible by the lapses in the death certificate issuance certificate system, as revealed by FIJ’s investigation.

The same process through which this certificate was issued was the one Bode, the man I met at the Mushin General Hospital, told me we would follow to get a death certificate I could use to lay claims to Sunday’s properties and funds.

Adekanye, the lawyer, told FIJ that he had also heard of a similar case shared by a friend of his dad who worked at the NPC.

“There was an experience shared with me by one of my dad’s friends who works at the NPC. A man came to obtain his father’s death certificate while he was still alive because he needed it in the court to process his father’s letter of administration of an estate (court’s directive on inheritance),” Adekanye narrated.

CRICKETS

On October 11, FIJ emailed the Lagos State Ministry of Health, the NPC, and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), informing them of the outcomes of this investigation and the consequences of the lapses in the issuance of death certificates.

FIJ also asked if they were aware of these lapses. These agencies did not respond over two weeks after the emails were sent.

This story was produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.