A judicial panel probing allegations of police brutality in Lagos State has submitted its findings on Monday, the state government said.
The panel submitted a bulky 309-page report to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State. One of the reports was on claims of police brutality while the other was on the shooting in the Lekki area of Lagos State during last year’s EndSARS protests.
Nigerian army denied shooting live rounds at protesters, telling the judicial panel that only blanks were used. However, some witnesses say a number of protesters were killed and their body were carted away by soldiers.
The protest movement started as a campaign to end the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a police unit accused of extortion, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
However, the protests grew into a wider contestation against bad governance.
The governor’s office did not reveal the contents of the report, but Justice Doris Okuwobi, who headed the panel, said that it considered 186 petitions out of the 252 it received.
Governor Sanwo-Olu vowed a “proper response” to the panel’s recommendations, adding that a “white paper” would be published within the next two weeks.
Read Also: Lekki Shooting: Nigerian Army Changes Position, Says Soldiers Had Both Live And Blank Ammunition
After receiving the report, Sanwo-Olu constituted a four-member committee headed by Lagos State Attorney General Moyosore Onigbanjo, to generate a white paper on the panel’s recommendations within a fortnight.
He stated;
This process will help us start the very difficult process of proper reconciliation, restitution, bringing together of anyone affected.
In his reaction, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and member of the panel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, says he expects Governor Sanwo-Olu to keep his promise of making the report of the judicial panel on police brutality public.
Adegboruwa says it will be “unfair and improper” for Sanwo-Olu to constitute a committee to review his panel’s report.
His statement reads as follows:
In particular, the panel affirmed the rights of the people of Nigeria to constitutionally guaranteed freedom of lawful assembly and peaceful protests, freedom of association and freedom of expression. The panel made far-reaching recommendations concerning the major actors that were found culpable, in order to achieve true healing and reconciliation.
Although I have my own copy of the report of the panel, I will trust His Excellency, the Governor of Lagos State, to fulfill his promise to Nigerians to make the findings and recommendations of the panel public.
That is the only way to build a true nation and avoid a repeat of the atrocious acts of security agencies against our people, especially the youths, the vulnerable and the helpless.
He stressed;
It is my view that Lagos state, having appeared before the panel as a party, having tendered documents before the panel and led witnesses to take a position on the Incident of the Lekki toll gate, it will be unfair and improper for Lagos state to be a judge in its own cause, by seeking to review the report of the Panel.
However, the governor explained to me that this would only be done to enable the government implement the findings and recommendations of the Panel and not to tamper with it or mutilate it. I believe His Excellency.
Adegboruwa 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. I can never and will never subscribe to anything that would amount to covering up the report of the panel. 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.
Last month, activists and protesting youths held memorial protests in Lagos and in the capital Abuja under heavy police watch.
