Black, sometimes, connotes something dirty and evil. That is why the alleged massacre of peaceful EndSARS protesters at Lekki Tollgate, Lagos, on October 20, 2020, was dubbed, ‘Black Tuesday’. White, on the other hand, is mainly associated with purity. Little wonder angels are often shown dressed in white. Honestly, I don’t know why Britain chose to call a government’s report on an issue ‘White Paper’. But instead of calling our own ‘Black Paper’ to conform to our colour and character, we joined the British people to call ours ‘White Paper’. And since a leopard cannot change its spots, shouldn’t we rather call the Lagos State Government’s White Paper on the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters, the ‘Black Paper’?
The Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel had looked into the petitions on several abuses and killings by the police, especially the defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) and the reported killings of protesters by soldiers at Lekki Tollgate area of Lagos on October 20, 2020. It made 32 recommendations and awarded a total of N410 million to 70 victims of police brutality.
In my intervention on this page last week titled, ‘Lai Mohammed’s tales by moonlight’, I noted that government officials were doing everything possible to discredit the report of the panel. Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, had set the stage for this perfidy. In a press conference in Abuja recently, Alhaji Mohammed lampooned the leaked report of the panel. He called it triumph of fake news and tales by moonlight. He berated the panel for submitting a report “riddled with so many errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, speculations, innuendoes, omissions and conclusions that are not supported by evidence.”
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN) claimed that the panel was illegal, saying a state panel had no right to probe federal institutions like the police and the military. A member of the panel and human rights lawyer, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), even alleged threats to the lives of members of the panel. I expressed fears that Nigerians might never get to know the truth about the Lekki incident. I said the report of the four-member committee on White Paper appeared already predetermined and that I would wish to be proved wrong.
Indeed, our government has disappointed me by proving me right once again. In the White Paper released on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, the Lagos State Government accepted 11 of the panel’s recommendations, accepted six with modifications, rejected one and forwarded 14 to the Federal Government for consideration. Among those forwarded to the Federal Government are issues concerning federal institutions like the police and the military.
The Lagos State Government also accepted the recommendation of the panel that October 20 of every year be made a toll-free day at the Lekki Tollgate. However, it said it lacked the powers to declare the day EndSARS Day as recommended because only the Federal Government had the powers to declare a national day. The state also said it would rather designate a park in the state and name it ‘Peace Park’ as against the recommendation of the panel to rename the Lekki Tollgate, ‘EndSARS Tollgate’.
Nevertheless, it is the rejection of the major issue, which is the alleged killings in Lekki, that gave concerned Nigerians some hiccups. The panel said at least nine people were killed at Lekki Tollgate. It based its report on medical reports by hospitals, testimonies and documents available to it.
But the government of Lagos, which is clearly an interested party in this matter, thought otherwise. According to it, the findings and conclusions of the panel on the alleged Lekki Tollgate killings are inconsistent, contradictory, totally unreliable and unacceptable. It said only one person died at Lekki Tollgate. This, it said, did not amount to massacre.
It relied mainly on the testimony of the chief pathologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Professor John Obafunwa. According to the government, Professor Obafunwa said among the bodies brought to him for post-mortem examination, only three were from Lekki Tollgate. Among those three, only one person died of gunshot injuries on October 21, 2020.
There are loopholes in this report. Obviously, Prof. Obafunwa did not pick the bodies from Lekki and other parts of Lagos himself. He relied on the information provided him by government officials.
Besides, how do we reconcile the latest government position with the earlier ones by the powers that be? Recall that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had initially blamed the shootings on forces beyond his control. He also admitted that soldiers carried out the shootings but that no death was recorded. Later, he said only two persons died.
The military, on its part, said it was never at the scene of the shooting that Black Tuesday and that the viral videos of the shooting could have been photo-shopped. Later, it said soldiers intervened on the request of the Lagos State Government but did not open fire on protesters.
Who is fooling whom? Are soldiers supposed to have intervened on a purely civil protest in the first place? The military said soldiers intervened on the request of Governor Sanwo-Olu. The governor said he called the President but got no response. So, was it Sanwo-Olu that authorized the intervention of the military in a purely civil protest that the police could have handled? Does he have such powers? And why did the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) quickly clean up the site of the incident which destroyed vital evidence in the whole saga?
The more you look, the less you see. Now, to pull the wool over our eyes, the Lagos State Governor intends to have what he calls ‘peace walk’ sometime this December in Lagos. He has invited some prominent EndSARS campaigners like Folarin Falana also known as Falz, and Mr. Macaroni to join him in the walk. Also to join him are the media, civil society groups, etc. This is understandable knowing that the primary duty of a government is to achieve peace by maintaining law and order.
But, there cannot be an enduring peace if there is no justice in the land. What I expected the Lagos State Government to have done is to allow the truth in the Lekki episode to prevail and then apologise to the victims and to the whole nation, pay adequate compensation and vow never to allow this happen again.
Members of the panel deserve commendation for their patriotic efforts despite all odds. They should not feel intimidated or downcast by the turn of events. Happily, a member of the panel, Ebun-olu Adegboruwa (SAN), has faulted a number of the points raised by the government. According to him, the White Paper is riddled with inaccuracies, cover-ups and inconsistencies and that the governor even lacked the power to release White Paper on the panel’s report. He said decisions of the panel were self-executory and not subject to review or rejection by the state government.
The onus is on all Nigerians to come to the rescue of this country. What we need for a healing process to take place is truth and justice. Without it, Sanwo-Olu’s ‘peace walk’ will be nothing but a mere exercise by some sedentary chief executives to keep fit!
Re: Lai Mohammed’s tales by moonlight
It is now a cinch that only the docile, patently gullible and the reprobate can set a great store on and be banefully deceived by the hodgepodge of deceit, falsehood, disinformation and chicanery that do always gush out of the mouth of Lai Mohammed, Information Minister! Who has forgotten so soon how this same Mr. Lai had deliberately and continuously, for over 100 days, lied to Nigerians sometime ago that President Buhari who was lying critically ill and at the throes of death in a London hospital, was all hail & hearty; that Buhari was taking his time resting in the Nigerian House in London, not in a hospital; and that it was wicked to imagine that Buhari was ill at the material? He was always on the NTA, as usual, lampooning anyone who held contrary opinion! Even at the airport in Abuja, while waiting for the arrival of Buhari, Alhaji Lai still maintained what he described as Fed Govt. position, that Buhari wasn’t ill. Well, the President came down from the plane & declaimed: “I’ve never been this sick in my life”, acknowledging his ailment & thanking Nigerians for their prayers. Did Lai Mohammed apologize for his falsehood & disinformation? Never. He merely retorted, when confronted by the Press, that he was merely doing his official duty. Isn’t Lai Mohammed once again discharging “his official duty” when he callously claimed that the Nigerian soldiers didn’t shoot & kill any protesters at Lekki during ENDSARS protest? Did you watch his mouth when he was lying on NTA? Any Nigerian who still believes the lies easily calibrated & churned out effortlessly by Lai Mohammed is clearly sick in the head or destitute of reason & commonsense! This blatant falsehood from officials of this government, like Lai Mohammed, devalues government credibility & ridicules public trust or confidence in the govt.
-Echefu Burman Esq. Benin City, +234 802 771 8737
Dear Casy, Mr. Lai Mohammed is of dual personalities, to wit: Personality No 1:He is that Servant with some foibles that turn him out as being greater than his Master (odibo ka nnaya ukwu).This informs his predilection for being unrestrained in churning out all sorts of unholy defence of FG’s actions or inactions. Even when such faux pas is at variance with his Master’s position, no reprimand takes place! Personality No 2: He is a government functionary that naturally sees lies as a means to an end. Hence, the abracadabra that comes from Lai’s lie machine. But Mr. Lai and FG should note that Truth that begins her journey today shall overtake lies that began their own journey 24 years ago, and when Truth arrives at her destination, she exposes both the lie and the lie teller to public odium.
-Steve Okoye, Awka, 08036630731.
Dear Casy, it is only in a place called Nigeria where the unstable minds, religious bigots, ethnic chauvinists, election riggers, public treasury looters murderers, terrorists, liars occupy leadership positions both in and outside the govt. Since 2015 till now Nigerians hadn’t known or heard the truth from their government led by Buhari and the people know the greatest liar among the Buhari govt. Let’s stop to dignify Mr. Liar Mohammed and his ilk.
-Eze Chima C. Lagos, +2347036225495
Casmir, simply put Lai Mohammed is doing his job. However, he should be meticulous by working in tandem with his paymasters. He should harmonise his opinions with that of PMB if not to be seen as an overzealous servant. Why is Samuel Ebun Adegboruwa a.k.a big sam (an OAU, Ife ex student union’s public relations officer and president) more vociferous and conspicuous than the chairman of the panel – Justice Okuwobi? He was a ‘general’ in protest marches. With him in the panel, there is only one outcome. The circus show is now protesters word against government’s word which will continue till eternity.
-Mike Mushin Lagos, +2348161114572
Blame not Alhaji Lai Mohammed. He is the government’s image-maker. His job is to make positive statements about government’s actions and inactions. And in order to keep his job, he must polish and or transform what is obviously black to an immaculate substance. Exception of the fire-spitting Dr Walter Ofonagoro, Lai Mohammed remains Nigeria’s most ‘successful’ Information Minister in the art of marketing very bad products to the delight of the unsuspecting buyers.
-Edet Essien Esq. -Cal. South, 08037952470
Dear Casmir, October 2020 was 34th anniversary of the assassination of Dele Giwa the founder of Newswatch magazine. So it and the Lekki massacre are remarkable. Impunity reigns in Nigeria with dignity of inhuman person in place. The reward for evil is punishment but good works shall set free the just.
– Cletus Frenchman Enugu, +234 909 538 5215