By Igho Akeregha, Abuja Bureau Chief
Five days to the submission of a white paper on the panel report of alleged killings at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2021, the federal government yesterday picked discredited the report claiming it is inconsistent on the weight of evidence and therefore lacks merit.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu had set up a four-member committee on November 15 to produce a white paper on the reports submitted by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for victims of SARS-related abuses and other matters. The panel was given two weeks to review the outcome of the Judicial panel and submit a white paper.
The two panels were established by the state government following public pressures and campaigns to bring all perpetrators of the alleged killings and human rights abuses to face justice.
But addressing the media in Abuja on Tuesday, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who said he had been out of the country on an official assignment when the report was released, took a swipe at those who were celebrating key findings and recommendations of the panel insisting there was nothing to celebrate.
According to the Minister, never in the history of any Judicial Panel in this country has its report been riddled with so many errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, speculations, innuendoes, omissions, and conclusions that are not supported by evidence. What is circulating in public space is simply a rehash of the unverified fake news that has been playing on social media since the incident of Oct.20th, 2020.
He said it is simply incredible that a Judicial Panel set up to investigate an incident has submitted a report laden with allegations, the same allegations it was set up to investigate in the first instance. Instead of sitting for all of one year, the panel could have just compiled social media ‘tales by the moonlight’ on the incident and submitted, saving taxpayers’ funds and everyone’s time. That report is nothing but the triumph of fake news and the intimidation of a silent majority by a vociferous lynch mob.
Mohammed was miffed that the report threw away the testimony of ballistic experts who testified before it adding that the experts said, inter alia, in their testimony:
”The Team finds that from the medical data examined, including the timeline of arrival at a medical facility and the nature of the injuries sustained by the victims, who were taken to the 5 medical facilities, that no military grade live ammunition (high-velocity) was fired at the protesters at Lekki Tollgate on 20th October 2020, within the timeframe of reference (18.30- 20.34hrs).
That the GSW (Gun Shot Wounds) injuries (4 in number between 19:05 and 19:45 hrs), which were examined by the Team, can be safely identified as being discharged by either low-velocity caliber and/or artisanal/12-gauge firearms (artisanal firearms are locally-fabricated weapons). What is however certain is that had the military personnel deliberately fired military-grade live ammunition directly at the protesters; there would have
been significantly more fatalities and catastrophic injuries recorded. This was clearly not the case.’’
While pointing out what the government believe were inconsistencies in the report, the Minister said the same panel that said it deemed as credible the evidence of the Forensic Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, that only three of the bodies on which post mortem were conducted were from Lekki and only one had gunshot injury went on to contradict itself by saying nine persons died of gunshot wounds at Lekki.
He cited the example of a man whose evidence claimed (that he counted 11 bodies in a military van where he was left for dead before he escaped) was found to be crucial by the panel but never testified in person. Rather, the Minister pointed out that a video of his ‘testimony’ was played by someone else. “It did not occur to the panel to query the veracity of the testimony of a man who said he was shot and presumed dead but still had time to count dead bodies inside a supposedly dark van at night”.
The panel said trucks with brushes underneath were brought to the Lekki Toll Gate in the morning of Oct. 21 2020 to clean up bloodstains and other evidence, but still found bullet casings at the same site when it visited on Oct. 30th 2020. It said soldiers picked up bullet casings from Lekki Toll Gate on the night of Oct. 20th, 2020, yet claimed that policemen came to the same spot to pick the same bullet casings on Oct. 21st, 2020!
Mohammed admitted that there were fatalities during the protests and specifically said the government is saddened that anyone died at all during the Endsars protest as the life of every Nigerian and indeed every human is sacrosanct. He maintained his earlier position that 57 civilians, 37 policemen, and six soldiers were killed across the country during the protest saying the government commiserates with their families.
He also faulted the recommendation that family members of the victims be compensated and asked, what are their identities and addresses? Who will receive the compensations when no family members have shown up to date? How did a man who reported seeing the lifeless body of his brother himself end up being on the list of the panel’s deceased persons?
Nigerians has been badly brutalized…. ,says Senator Ayu
While further questioning the value of the report, Mohammed noted that it did not mention cases of police personnel who were brutally murdered during the protests and the properties of innocent persons destroyed.
He concluded that there is absolutely nothing in the report that is circulating to make the government change its stand that there was no massacre at Lekki on Oct. 20th, 2020 arguing that for there to be a change of stand, a well-investigated report of the incident that meets all required standards and will withstand every scrutiny must be produced and presented to the public.
While rejecting claims that soldiers and policemen massacred innocent Nigerians during the period of public rage, he said the report in circulation does not meet acceptable requirements even as he appealed to the families of those allegedly killed in Lekki to speak out.
The government’s position is seen by many as a precursor to its eventual stand when the Lagos state government releases the findings contained in the white paper. Last week, the United States government, speaker through Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken who was on a tour of three African countries have urged the Federal government to implement recommendations of the ENDSARS report.
