By Olusegun Olanrewaju
An organisation focused on human rights, Amnesty International, yesterday charged the Lagos State Government to disclose the identities of the #EndSARS victims scheduled for mass burial.
In a statement made available yesterday, AI’s Director, Isa Sanusi, said the planned mass burial of 103 #EndSARS victims must be stopped, and an investigation into the killings be carried out to prosecute the perpetrators.
AI’s statement was in response to a leaked government memo dated 19 July, which was addressed to the Lagos State Ministry of Health by the state’s procurement agency.
The state government in a letter from the state Public Procurement Agency titled: Letter of No Objection– Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 #EndSARS victims, sparked outrage after it circulated on the internet for several hours.
The letter revealed that the state government engaged the services of Messrs TOS Funeral Ltd, a private firm, at the cost of N61m to bury 103 bodies tagged as “#EndSARS victims.”
The Lagos State Government, however, confirmed the leaked memo and maintained that the victims to be buried are not from the controversial Lekki Tollgate shooting.
Sanusi said, “The Nigerian authorities must urgently halt their plans to carry out a secret mass burial of #EndSARS victims and instead carry out a thorough and independent investigation into the killings and ensure that those suspected to be responsible are brought to justice in fair trials.
“They must also carry out transparent coroner inquests and autopsies on the 103 #EndSARS victims and publish their identities and the circumstances of their deaths.
“It is appalling that the Lagos state government has not even mentioned that it has held the bodies of 103 #EndSARS victims in its custody since October 2020.”
He further said that all those detained because of their role in the #EndSARS protests must be released immediately.
“The Nigerian authorities must also ensure that victims and their families are provided with access to justice and effective remedies, including adequate compensation,” he said.
