By Olusegun Olanrewaju
Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo, yesterday justified the state government’s white paper on the Judicial Panel of Inquiry (JPI) on the report of Lekki Tollgate incident, saying the state complied with the laws and the weight of evidence presented to reach a decision on the reports.

The commissioner’s comment came after Tuesday’s state-wide broadcast in which Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu called for harmony and invited youths, especially prominent members of the EndSARS campaigners and members of the civil society organisations (CSOs), to join him in a ‘Peace Walk’ to herald healing of Lagos State.

But also yesterday, a group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), condemned the state government’s release of the white paper on the October 2020 controversial protest, describing it as a “RUMPLED PAPER”, “WHITE LIES” and “tissues of falsehoods and political gymnastics.”

Onigbanjo said the positions of the Lagos State government as stated in the White Paper was not contrary to the panel’s findings, especially the evidence of the pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, who said only three of the bodies that he conducted post-mortem examination on during the EndSARS protests were from Lekki, and out of them, only one had gunshot injury.

He was speaking on a Morning Show interview programme on Arise Television yesterday, to discuss the white paper released by Lagos State Government on the report of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Police Brutality and the Lekki Toll Gate incident of October 20, 2020 in Lagos.

It would be recalled that the state government, in the white paper released on Tuesday, accepted 11, rejected one, and agreed on six with modifications, out of the 32 recommendations on the tollgate shootings.

The commissioner added that 14 recommendations fall outside its powers, and would be forwarded to the Federal Government for consideration.

Onigbanjo said inconsistencies and contradictions in the leaked reports on the Lekki incidents that nine people died at Lekki Tollgate last year made the panel’s finding in respect to deaths at the tollgate unreliable, saying that for a finding that somebody died at a scene to be acceptable, there must be no doubt.

He added: “The position of Lagos State Government is based on the findings of the panel itself. So, it is not that Lagos State Government just conjured things from the air.

“We went through the report, and what we saw particularly in reference to the death of nine persons is that they found the evidence of the Pathologist, Prof. Obafunwa, who conducted an autopsy on all the bodies picked up all over Lagos during the protests, not just at Lekki Tollgate but state wide, credible, and there was no evidence to the contrary.

“Prof. Obafunwa said that of all the bodies he conducted autopsies on, three came from Lekki, and out of the three only one had gunshot injuries.

“And the panel then said we believe you, we accept your evidence because there is nothing to the contrary. So, in law, if you put that on the imaginary scale, it means what Prof. Obafunwa said outweighs every other evidence before the panel.”

Onigbanjo also debunked the allegations that the Judicial Panel of Inquiry made no reference to policemen, nor took them into consideration.

“They (JPI) issued two reports. The report that leaked only dealt with the issues from the Lekki Toll Gate. There is another report which they issued which was not leaked; that report deals with all the EndSARS petitions that were about 253 in number and of the 253, policemen also brought their own petitions, and in that report, the panel awarded a sum of about N36.2million to the policemen who were affected one way or the other by the protests.

“So, to be fair to them, they did consider the plights of the policemen too. And even if you look at most of their recommendations, they are for better welfare for the police, better equipment, more training, psychological evaluations, so they took them into consideration,” he said.

The Attorney-General also denied the allegations that Lagos State Government was put under pressure by the Federal Government to discredit the panel’s report, adding that at no time did the State Government encourage personal attacks against any members of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry.

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He said: “The Federal Government never put the Lagos State Government under any pressure to discredit the panel or anybody. If you check the records, nobody from Lagos State Government discredited the panel.

Commenting on a few of the EndSARS activists turning down the requests by Governor Sanwo-Olu for a Peace Walk this month, Onigbanjo said the government will persuade civil society members to change their minds.

However, condemning Governor Sanwo-Olu in a statement yesterday, HURIWA has condemned the government of Lagos State, following the release of the whitepaper.

HURIWA said the deliberate action of the governor to play the role of a maverick by “editing the heart and mind of the findings and recommendations of the panel” shows that all the while, the setting up of the investigation commission which gulped millions of taxpayers money was simply for political gimmicks and shadow chasing.

“The so-called white paper is a total package of half-baked white lies, which were actually manufactured to satisfy the political godfather and the man who single-handedly railroaded the little-known Mr. Jide Sanwo-Olu into office as governor in 2019,” HURIWA said in a statement signed by its coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko.

HURIWA condemned the Lagos State governor for allowing his political allegiance to the family of the owners of the concessioned Lekki Tollgate linked to the alleged godfather of Lagos State, “to taint and manipulate the well-thought-out recommendations and findings of the judicial panel.”

The group also said it was laughable that the governor could pick and choose which of the findings of the panel to qualify as being politically correct or not.

It dismissed the actions of the Lagos State governor on the panel’s report as “government magic”, because according to the group, the Lagos State Sanwo-Olu was tutored to reject the fundamentals and kernel of the findings of the panel by the likes of Lai Mohamed and Festus Keyawo, both of whom are APC politicians and ministers, who had rejected the panel.

The Lagos State Government had on Tuesday rejected the resolution of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters that no fewer than nine persons lost their lives when armed soldiers stormed the Lekki toll gate to disperse #EndSARS protesters on October 20, 2020.

HURIWA regretted that the Lagos State governor had missed an opportunity of a lifetime to be recognised as a true hero of democracy, “but has chosen to play the well-known game of the political status quo which is anti-people and anti-progressive.”