Mary Habila: Government has legal obligation to probe suspicious death — Oshoma

By Adesina Wahab, Henry Ojelu & John Alechenu Following the objection of the father of late Miss Mary Habila for an autopsy to be carried out on his daughter’s corpse, a legal practitioner, Mr Liborous Oshoma has said that under the Coroner’s System Laws of Nigerian states (including Ebonyi State) and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), the government has a legal obligation to investigate any sudden, unnatural, or suspicious death.

The Minister had called for an autopsy to be carried out to determine the cause of death which the police had insisted on doing but the father of the deceased, Mr Tanko Habila Wisdom said the family was not interested in any autopsy and the police should release the remains of her daughter for burial.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has also said that an autopsy is necessary to determine the actual cause of death of Miss Mary Habila, even as it criticised the Northern Youth Council for demanding the removal of the minister over the incident.