Speak Out for Justice Advocacy Ltd/Gte (SOJA) has called for a full, independent and transparent investigation into the death of 51-year-old Nigerian academic and researcher, Dr Ayodele Temidayo Odularu, who was reportedly found dead at her residence in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province on August 16.
The rights advocacy organisation made the demand in a statement issued on Sunday by its Founder and Executive Director, Hameed Ajibola Jimoh, following concerns raised by Odularu’s family over the circumstances surrounding her death.
Odularu, who was associated with the University of Fort Hare, was reportedly found dead at her residence, with the university subsequently holding a memorial service in her honour.
SOJA said that while no competent authority had publicly established the cause or manner of her death, the uncertainty surrounding the circumstances warranted a credible and exhaustive investigation.
The organisation cautioned against prematurely labelling the incident as murder, an attack or xenophobic violence, stressing that such conclusions must be based on verifiable evidence.
It, however, warned that the absence of an established cause of death should not be used to close the case without a thorough investigation.
“An investigation must therefore neither manufacture a crime where none occurred nor dismiss a possible crime as a natural death without proper evidence,” SOJA said.
The group urged the South African Police Service, prosecutorial authorities, medico-legal officials and other relevant institutions to establish the precise medical cause of death and reconstruct the circumstances leading to Odularu’s death.
It called for particular scrutiny of events at her residence before she was found dead, the circumstances surrounding when she was last seen alive, and any evidence of forced entry, struggle, injury, poisoning, assault or other suspicious circumstances.
SOJA also called for the preservation and examination of potentially significant evidence, including CCTV footage, telephone records and electronic communications, as well as a proper post-mortem examination and toxicological or other forensic analyses where necessary.
Investigators, it said, should also establish whether anyone who had access to Odularu, communicated with her or visited her shortly before her death could provide information relevant to the investigation.
The organisation acknowledged wider concerns over the safety of Nigerians and other African nationals in South Africa but cautioned that the broader context should not be allowed to predetermine the cause of Odularu’s death.
It urged investigators to examine all reasonable possibilities, including criminality, discrimination, xenophobic hostility, interpersonal conflict, accident and medical causes.
“Dr Odularu was a Nigerian citizen, but she was also a human being living and working within the jurisdiction of South Africa. Her nationality could never lawfully reduce the protection owed to her life, dignity and physical security,” the group said.
SOJA further cited South Africa’s constitutional protections for the right to life and human dignity, alongside the country’s obligations under international human-rights instruments, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
It also referenced South Africa’s Inquests Act 58 of 1959, which provides for inquests into deaths apparently resulting from causes other than natural causes.
The organisation said the relevant legal framework should be allowed to operate fully where questions arise over whether a death was natural, accidental, suicidal, homicidal or otherwise unlawfully caused.
SOJA also urged the Nigerian government to become actively involved in seeking answers over the death.
It called on the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nigeria’s diplomatic mission in South Africa to engage directly with Odularu’s family, establish the status of the investigation and provide appropriate consular assistance.
The organisation said diplomatic engagement should be pursued if credible evidence eventually establishes that Odularu’s death was connected to a crime, discrimination, xenophobic violence or other unlawful conduct.
