Punch
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), one of the members of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters, has raised the alarm that members of the panel are being unfairly persecuted by some state government officials over the report that protesters were killed at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020.
Adegboruwa made this known in a statement on Thursday titled, ‘EndSARS Panel Members Are Being Unfairly Persecuted’.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that the Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel submitted its report to the Lagos State Government, noting that at least nine persons were confirmed dead at the Lekki toll plaza when soldiers stormed the tollgate to disperse EndSARS protesters on October 20, 2020.
The 309-page report stated, “The atrocious maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters while sitting on the floor and waving their Nigerian flags and while singing the National Anthem can be equated to a massacre in context.”
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who received the report on Monday, constituted a Committee to bring forward a White Paper within the next two weeks to be considered by the Lagos State Executive Council.
Many Nigerians have been outraged by the panel’s report which is at variance with the consistent claim by the government that there was no “massacre” at the toll gate, a focal gathering point during last year’s nationwide demonstration against extrajudicial killings and police brutality by operatives of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force.
However, the panel members have also been commended for standing for truth and justice in the face of intimidation.
In his statement, Adegboruwa said, “Since the submission of the EndSARS Panel Report to the Governor of Lagos State on November 15, 2021, members of the Panel have become subject of vicious attacks by those suspected to be agents of the government…
Connect with us on our socials: