(Full List): Nine #EndSARS Protesters Killed, Four Missing, 24 Injured At Lekki Toll Gate -Lagos Judicial Panel

By Edna Wande Last updated Nov 16, 2021

Judicial panel set up by Lagos government to probe cases of police brutality — including the Lekki toll gate shooting on October 20, 2020 — says nine #EndSARS protesters were killed.

The panel, in its 309-page report seen by MDB, listed 48 names as casualties of the October 20, 2020 Lekki tollgate shooting.

Out of the 48 casualties listed by the panel, 47 victims are males while one is female.

This was contained in the report submitted by Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS-related Abuses and Other Matters on Monday.

According to the report, nine protesters were confirmed dead while four others were presumed dead.

Also among the 48 casualties listed, 24 sustained gunshot injuries, while 15 others were assaulted by soldiers and police.

The panel also noted that 96 other corpses were presented by a Forensic Pathologist of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Professor John Obafunwa.

The panel also said the killing of unarmed protesters at the tollgate could be described in the context of a “massacre”.

The report reads;

It was alleged and corroborated that the soldiers had their vans parked at the Lekki Toll Gate and removed as many bodies and corpses of the fallen.

One of the protesters who was shot and taken for dead, Olalekan Sanusi, who eventually escaped to narrate his ordeal and experience stated that 11 corpses were in the van where he was placed in and presumed dead.

Miss Dabira Ayuku also corroborated the above by stating that she saw about 7 dead bodies placed in one of the military trucks at the Lekki Toll Gate on the night of 20th October, 2020.

It stressed;

It was alleged and corroborated that soldiers picked bullet shells on the night of October 20 and policemen followed up in the morning of October 21 to pick bullet shells. 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 (3) 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.

There was abundant evidence before the panel that the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) indicated in its Twitter handle that it had effectively cleaned up the Lekki Toll Gate scene immediately after the incident of October 20, 2020.

The report added;

The denial of ambulances by the soldiers, which could have assisted in the prompt and effective treatment of injured protesters, was cruel and inhuman and it contributed immensely to the large number of deaths and casualties on the part of the protesters, especially those from the Lekki Toll Gate. The panel finds the cases of death or injured protesters as credible and uncontroverted.

The report continues;

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.

The panel was inaugurated on October 19, 2020, to look into complaints of citizens against human rights abuses by the police.

However, following the incident at Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, the Terms of Reference of the panel were expanded to cover that incident.

The panel sat for over one year, listening to testimonies of petitioners, witnesses, experts, and lawyers.

The panel treated 235 petitions and awarded N410 million as compensation to 70 victims.

Read the full report here.

See the full list of victims below;