The Lagos State Government has rejected the resolution of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters that about nine persons lost their lives when armed soldiers stormed the Lekki toll gate to disperse EndSARS protesters on October 20, 2020.
This claim, which was contained in a 41-page White Paper released by the state government last night said the findings by the Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel is irreconcilable with the evidence of pathologist, Prof. Obafunwa that only one person died of gunshot wounds.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had received the report of the panel on November 15 and said the White Paper would be released in two weeks.
The White Paper released yesterday said the panel could not justify that people were killed. The Lagos government therefore rejected the recommendation of the panel on the killings, citing inconsistencies.
It said two names on the list of the deaths appeared twice saying and I quote, “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, end of quote.
The state government, however, said it would forward the recommendations made by the EndSARS panel that disciplinary measures should be meted on military officers deployed to disperse protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, to the Federal Government, National Economic Council and the Nigerian Army.
The white paper rejected one recommendation out of the 32 made by the panel of inquiry, accepted eleven recommendations and also accepted six with modifications.
It said fourteen recommendations fall outside of the state government’s jurisdiction and will be forwarded to the federal government for consideration.
Some Nigerians react to the white paper.
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