..Awards N410 million Compensation To 70 Victims
The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS-related Abuses and Other Matters has revealed 109 deaths in Lagos EndSARS protests last year.
The report said that 96 other corpses were presented by a Forensic Pathologist of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Professor John Obafunwa.
According to the report,the panel sat for over one year treated 235 petitions and awarded N410 million as compensation to 70 victims
The report which was presented to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu detailed 48 names as those who were casualties of the Lekki incident of October 20, 2020. While some persons were marked shot dead, some were marked injured while a few were declared as missing,
Nine protesters at Lekki tollgate were confirmed dead while four others were presumed dead as they were still missing as at the time of writing the report. This brings the number of those feared dead at Lekki tollgate alone to 13,according to the 399-page report
Among the 48 casualties listed,the report said 24 sustained gunshot injuries, while 15 were assaulted by security personnel.
The report reads inter alia: ” The evidence before the panel shows that after the Nigerian Army left, Nigeria Police Force, followed up with the killing of the protesters, shooting directly at fleeing protesters into the shanties and the Lagoon at the Lekki Phase 1 Foreshore, close to the Lekki Toll Gate, floating corpse and one shot close to Serah Ibrahim.
“Several unidentified bodies were removed by security agencies and LASEHMU (Lagos State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit) and deposited at various hospital mortuaries in Lagos State.
“Three trucks with brushes underneath were brought to the Lekki Toll Gate in the morning of October 21st October, 2020 to clean up the scene of bloodstains and other evidence.
“The testimony and report of Professor John Obafunwa, a forensic pathologist of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, showed that three corpses were deposited at the Mainland Hospital, Yaba Hospital, all from the Lekki Toll Gate and the autopsy conducted thereon revealed death from bleeding caused by penetrating objects or rifled weapon.
“The panel finds that the fact of lack of identity of some of the other 96 corpses on the list supplied by Professor Obafunwa would not obliterate the fact that some of them could have come from the Lekki Toll Gate Incident of October 20, 2020, or that some other unidentified corpses may have been removed by their families or the military, as claimed by the #EndSARS protesters, far and beyond the list tendered by Professor Obafunwa.”
A member of the panel, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, wrote that he would not subscribe to anything that would amount to covering up the report of the panel.
He added:”I will however keep observing the turn of events and at the appropriate time, one may be forced to state the FULL contents of the report if the promises made are not fulfilled.We have done our work in the best way that we could. Nigerians should demand for justice against all culprits who have been named in detail, in our report”
