The Lagos State Government has released its White Paper on the report submitted to it by the #EndSARS judicial panel of inquiry that probed the Lekki toll gate incident of October 20, 2020, Njenje Media Newes reports.
The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, earlier on Tuesday during a press conference, promised thay the White Paper would be released later today (Tuesday).
However, the governor dismissed the panel’s report that nine persons were killed at the toll gate when soldiers and the police shot at peaceful protesters.The White Paper described the conclusion of the panel that nine persons were shot dead as “assumptions and speculations”.
During a press conference earlier on Tuesday at the Government House, Sanwo-Olu had said, “It is with a great sense of responsibility that I address you today on the reactions that have trailed the release of the Lagos EndSARS panel report submitted to me about two weeks ago and now it has played out in public discourse since then.
“We owe it to you, the people of Lagos to constantly speak and engage with you in easy times, we’ll never shy away from making our case while also ensuring that we listen to you.
“We as an administration are determined that the next steps that we’ll be taking in this process of coming to terms with the event of October 2020 must bring closure to a painful episode in the history of our state, with the release of the white paper later today.
“This in my view is a moment that beckons to us to define who and what we are, to be a centre of excellence, we must be a centre of truth, to be a prosperous city, we must establish ourselves as a peaceful entity and to achieve the greater Lagos of our dreams, we must learn to live in harmony.
Two Monday’s ago, the panel submitted the report to the Lagos State Government, in which it clearly found that the Nigerian Army and police fired live bullets at peaceful protesters at the Lekki Tollgate last year.
It also concluded that the “deliberate absence of officers of the Nigerian Army who were present at the Lekki Toll Gate and who were summoned by the Panel was a calculated attempt to conceal material evidence from the Panel”.
The panel was inaugurated on October 19, 2020, to look into complaints of citizens against human rights abuses by the police.
Following the incident at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, the Terms of Reference of the Panel was expanded to cover that incident.
The Panel sat for well over one year and took testimonies of petitioners, witnesses, experts and lawyers.
The submission of the panel that there was indeed a massacre has since attracted the outrage of Nigerians and the international community who called for the prosecution of the offending officers.
The governement White Paper among other things asserted:
“The finding of the JPI at page 288 paragraph M is that the evidence of the pathologist Prof Obafunwa that only 3 of the bodies that they conducted post mortem examination on were from Lekki and only one had gunshot injury and this was not debunked.
We deem it credible as the contrary was not presented before the panel. The JPI’s finding of nine deaths is therefore irreconcilable with the evidence of Prof. Obafunwa that only one person died of gunshot wounds at 7:43pm at LTG on October 21, 2020.
Having held that there was no evidence before it to the contrary of what Prof Obafunwa said, the question is where did the JPI then get its finding of nine deaths? This finding of nine deaths at LTG on 20th October 2020 is even more baffling because apart from listing out their names in tabular form at pages 297-298, the JPI offered no explanation regarding the circumstances of their death.
It is quite astonishing that in the list of eleven deaths set out at pages 297-298, two of the names appeared twice (Kolade Salami and Folorunsho Olabisi as Nos. 37 and 38).
Furthermore, the person listed as No. 46 Nathaniel Solomon who testified as a witness and petitioned the JPI in respect of his brother who he alleged died at LTG was himself listed as having died at LTG on 20th October 2020. Remarkably, Nathaniel Solomon’s deceased brother (Abuta Solomon) was then also listed as No. 2 on the list of persons who died at LTG.
The inconsistencies and contradictions in the entire JPI Report concerning the number of persons who died at LTG on 20 October 2020 and their cause of death rendered the JPI’s findings conclusions thereon as totally unreliable and therefore unacceptable.
