By Beifoh Osewele, Wilfred Eya, Chinelo Obogo, Romanus Okoye, Chukwudi Nweje, Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The ghost of #EndSARS, the popular movement organised by youths across the country to protest police brutality, has come to the fore, over one year after, following the release of report of probe panel report in Lagos.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had, on October 19, 2020, inaugurated the Judicial Panel of Inquiry to investigate alleged cases of brutality and human rights violations perpetrated by the police and operatives of the dissolved Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The panel was also saddled with the investigation of the alleged shootings that took place on October 20, 2020, at the Lekki Tollgate.
On Monday, the Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel submitted its report, stating that the armed forces shot and killed protesters at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos last year.
The report accused Nigerian Army officers of having “shot, injured and killed unarmed helpless and defenseless protesters, without provocation or justification while they were waving the Nigerian flag and singing the national anthem and the manner of assault and killing could, in context, be described as a massacre.”
The report said nine #EndSARS protesters were killed while security operatives at the scene reportedly prevented ambulances from reaching injured demonstrators.
While the US government said it was watching to see how governments would handle the report, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), elder statesman and leader of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and others said the report has proved that innocent Nigerian youths were actually killed.
Reacting in a statement, yesterday, the United States said it “welcomed the conclusion of the panel’s report” and was looking forward to “suitable measures” the Federal Government would take on allegations of abuses against some security agents indicted in the Lagos #EndSARS panel report.
“We look forward to the Lagos State government’s response as part of a process that represents an important mechanism of accountability regarding the #EndSARS protests and the events that took place near the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.
“Those events led to serious allegations against some members of the security forces, and we look forward to the Lagos State and Federal Government’s taking suitable measures to address those alleged abuses as well as the grievances of the victims and their families.”
PDP, in a statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, urged Nigerians to stand for the slain youths by insisting that those behind the Lekki toll gate killing are prosecuted.
“The report of the Lagos EndSARS panel, which confirms the massacre of Nigerian youths in Lekki, has further shown the APC and its government as bloody liars whose hands are stained with the blood of our innocent compatriots.
“Of course, all those whose hands have become blood stained will never know peace.
“The nation must ensure that such individuals are brought to book for their act of wickedness to humanity,” the party said.
Adebanjo, who described the Minister of information, Lai Mohammed, as a liar for claiming that nobody died, said the development has shown that the Federal Government tells a lot of lies to the public.
“You and I knew that people were killed at Lekki, but the Federal Government said nobody was killed. We are finished in this country. Is it not the same Lekki that the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, talked about recovering a camera which was planted at the toll gate?”
The former governor, who had visited the state last year to assess the extent of damage caused by hoodlums, “spotted” a camcorder, which he handed over to a government official. The viral footage of the recovery trended for weeks on the social media with many commentators doubting Fashola’s claims.
This is as Mr. Femi Falana, senior advocate and interim chair, Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), said Lagos State government was duty bound to implement the recommendations of the panel even as he said it deserved commendation for the thorough investigation of police brutality in Lagos State.
“A certified copy of the report of the panel should be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari in view of the recommendation that the soldiers and police personnel who engaged in the torture and reckless murder of citizens be sanctioned.
“Having received the report of the judicial commission, the Lagos State government is urged to accelerate the issuance of the White Paper as well as the implementation of the far reaching recommendations. The policemen who were killed by criminal elements during the protests should be honoured, notwithstanding that their family members have been compensated by the Lagos State Government. However, as police brutality has continued unabated, we call on the government to set up the Lagos State Human Rights Committee in line with the recommendation of the Panel. This was part of the unanimous resolutions of the members of the National Economic Council.”
Former deputy national chairman of the PDP, Chief Olabode George, urged Governor Sanwo-Olu to apologise to Nigerians for the killing of defenseless protesters.
George said, during a press conference in Lagos, that, as the chief security officer of the state, the governor should take responsibility for what happened. He also advised the governor against reopening the toll gate.
“The members of the panel acted well and have changed my mindset about the country. It is gladdening that we still have credible people. It was not just one person, it was a panel that sat and their names will be written in gold that they told the truth. They listened for months to testimonies and went through throve of evidence and wrote the report the way they saw it. The younger generation will read the report and judge the panel well, so I want to congratulate them.
“Sanwo-Olu should know that he has a family name behind him both from his mother and his father’s sides and that the truth has already been told. He should be straight with himself and his government and take the appropriate actions. To err is human and to forgive is divine. If he reads the document from the panel and make amends and apologise to the people of the state, that would be great. Lives were lost. He should read that document, make amends and apologise to the people of the state.
“The killings that happened took place under Sanwo-Olu’s watch. I was a governor and I left in 1990, and I have been in and out of leadership. If I had misbehaved, will I have the nerves to go into politics and talk to people? Sanwo-Olu is from an honorable family and, even if people are pushing him to reopen the toll gate, he should know that the truth about what happened there is already in the open,” he said.
A former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for 2023 elections, Kingsley Moghalu, in a statement personally signed, said individuals in the Army and the Police who gave the unlawful orders for the extrajudicial killings, as well as those who pulled the trigger, must pay for their crimes with prosecution and imprisonment.
“As I said when the news of the killings broke to the world, these are violations of international humanitarian law in addition to national laws. This was mass murder and attempted mass murder, pure and simple. The perpetrators must not go free, and adequate restitution, which also is within the mandate of the judicial panel, must be made to all the protesters who were murdered in cold blood, injured or assaulted.”
Also, human rights activist, Malachy Ugwummadu, said the report reinforced the first-hand account of the Nigerian youths who insisted that their colleagues were unlawfully and extrajudicially murdered by the Nigerian law enforcement agencies.
“The local and international media centres and organisations including CNN, BBC and even Amnesty International that held the view that Nigerians were unlawfully killed stand vindicated today.
“Moving forward, victims and relatives of victims of these illegal and callous violence can pursue further legal redress including the enforcement of the fundamental rights of their relations in our regular High Courts. I personally pursued a case on behalf of a victim before the panel and got compensation but that was on behalf of a living victim.”
Secretary General of CNPP, Chief Willy Ezeugwu, expressed happiness that the panel report was out and observed that it has proved yet again that Nigerians are dealing with a government that is not sincere with the citizenry.
“Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, should resign with immediate effect. He has so much tarnished the image of the country. The government has been trying to cover up what happened at the Lekki Toll Gate but the truth has come out. With this report, the international community will now know that what Nigerians are saying is true,” he said.
Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Centre, Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, thanked the panel for demonstrating the highest level of courage and patriotism in dealing with the massacre and urged the White Paper Committee to ensure that they do not water down the key issues in the report.
He said those found culpable should be punished to serve as a deterrence to what has become a habit of soldiers and policemen shooting protesters.