The judicial panel set up by the Lagos Government on the last year’s #endsars protest has concluded by Soldiers actually killed some protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, and carted their corpses away in their vans.
The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters, led by Justice Doris Okuwobi in its report stated that the atrocious killing of unarmed protesters at Lekki toll gate on the night of October 20, 2020, can be equated to a ‘massacre’ in context. “It was alleged and corroborated that the soldiers had their vans parked at the Lekki Toll Gate and removed as many bodies and corpses of the fallen protesters which they took away with their vans,” the panel stated on page 295 of its report. The panel said at least 48 protesters were either shot dead, injured with bullets wounds or assaulted by soldiers who stormed the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020. “The atrocious maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters, while sitting on the floor and waving their Nigerian flags, while singing the National Anthem can be equated to a ‘massacre’ in context,” Page 294 of the bulky 309-page report partly read.
The report constrast sharply with the claim by the Federal Government that there was no massacre at the toll gate. Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, had consistently maintained that the Lekki incident was a “massacre without bodies” and debunked the report of the Cable News Network (CNN) on the incident. Already, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Monday set up a four-member committee led by Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo to raise a White Paper on the reports submitted by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry. Other members of the committee are; Commissioner for Youths and Social Development, Segun Dawodu; Special Adviser, Works and Infrastructure, Aramide Adeyoye and Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office, Tolani Oshodi. Sanwo-Olu said the Committee would bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks to be considered by the Lagos State Executive Council, pledging that the reports and recommendations will be made public and submitted to the National Economic Council (NEC) for discussion.
The Governor constituted the committee after receiving the two reports of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for victims of SARS related abuses and other matters presented to him at the Lagos House, Ikeja by chairman of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi (retired). The two reports submitted by the Panel to Lagos State Government are on investigation on petitions on several abuses and killings by the Nigerian Police, especially the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the October 20, 2020 Lekki Toll Gate shootings during the EndSARS protests hijacked by hoodlums. Governor Sanwo-Olu also reassured Nigerians, especially residents of Lagos that the Government’s action would be guided by the law and in the public interest.
The Governor, expressed hope that Lagos State government’s decision on the reports would bring complete healing, reconciliation and restitution. “I am going to constitute a four-member committee immediately, which will be headed by the Attorney-General, the Commissioner for Youths and Social Development, the Special Adviser on Works and Infrastructure and the Permanent Secretary, the Cabinet office. “The four of them will immediately look through and bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks that will be considered at the Lagos State Executive Council and would be gazetted as a white paper coming from the Panel of Inquiry. “We will ensure that the recommendations that are coming out that will be turned into a white paper and would be made available to the public. We will do it appropriately so that history will judge us well and we will have a document that will stand the test of time. That is what the tribunal law says, so that it will be properly documented and gazetted in government’s records,” he said. Okuwobi expressed deep appreciation to the Lagos State Government and all the stakeholders who appeared before the Panel. She also thanked members of the Panel for their uncommon resolve to bring closure to the assignment and good team work.
She said part of the recommendations of the panel is establishment of a body to take over human rights abuses in Lagos. Justice Okuwobi, who disclosed that the panel awarded a total of N410 million to 70 victims of Police brutality, said 235 petitions were received with only 14 of it being on the alleged Lekki Shooting incident. “As much as the panel desired to have taken all petitions, the ones that were not taken by the panel were those that did not comply to our rules, so in this report, we made recommendations for a body to take over human rights abuse cases in Lagos State,” she said.
* GlobalFinancial Digest
