Lagos State Government’s White Paper on the Judicial Panel of Inquiry (JPI) on the report of Lekki Tollgate shootings has rubbished the panel’s report claiming there was massacre at the tollgate on October 20, 2020 during #EndSARS protests.
The White Paper released on Tuesday night said the report of the Lekki Tollgate (LTG) shootings submitted two weeks ago by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry is full of inconsistencies and contradictions.
The 24-page White Paper also denied the claim by the panel report that nine people were shot dead by the Nigerian Army and several others injured at the Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020.
The state government maintained that some of the claims in the reports, was full of discrepancies, irregularities and inaccuracies with claims of deaths of victims, even when some paragraphs of the same report revealed different claims and assertions.
It said the claims by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry cannot be substantiated because it contradicted the evidence of a Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, who testified during the Panel sittings that only three of the bodies that he conducted post mortem examination on were from Lekki, and out of them, only one had gunshot injury.
“On the basis of the fundamental inconsistencies in the findings of the JPI regarding the nine deaths at LTG and particularly because findings are clearly and manifestly not supported by evidence before the JPI as attested to by the JPI itself, when it said there was no contrary evidence to that of Prof. Obafunwa that only one person died at LTG of gunshot wounds at LTG on October 20, 2020, the State Government is therefore unable to accept the finding that nine people died of gunshot wounds at LTG on 20th October, 2020.
“It also follows that the irresistible conclusion to be drawn from the JPI’s acceptance of Prof. Obafunwa’s testimony that only one person died of gunshot wounds at LTG on 21st October, 2020 is that there was no massacre at LTG, contextual or otherwise.
“The findings of the JPI that nine died at LTG on 20th October 2020 from gunshots fired by the Military are based on assumptions and speculations.
“Having held that there was no evidence before it to the contrary of what Prof Obafunwa said, the question is where did the JPI then get its finding of nine deaths? This finding of nine deaths at LTG on 20th October 2020 is even more baffling because apart from listing out their names in tabular form at pages 297-298, the JPI offered no explanation regarding the circumstances of their death.
“It is quite astonishing that in the list of eleven deaths set out at pages 297-298, two of the names appeared twice (Kolade Salami and Folorunsho Olabisi as Nos. 37 and 38).
“Furthermore, the person listed as No. 46 Nathaniel Solomon who testified as a witness and petitioned the JPI in respect of his brother who he alleged died at LTG was himself listed as having died at LTG on 20th October 2020.
“Remarkably, Nathaniel Solomon’s deceased brother (Abuta Solomon) was then also listed as No. 2 on the list of persons who died at LTG.
“The inconsistencies and contradictions in the entire JPI Report concerning the number of persons who died at LTG on 20th October, 2020 and their cause of death rendered the JPI’s findings and conclusions therefrom as totally unreliable and therefore unacceptable,” the White Paper reads in part.
Lagos State Government, according to its White Paper, accepted 11, rejected one and agreed on six with modifications out of the 32 recommendations made by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Lekki Tollgate shootings, stating that 14 recommendations fall outside its powers and would be forwarded to the Federal government for consideration.
The State Government said it has no control over the internal affairs of the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army, therefore all recommendations relating to the affairs of the security agencies would be forwarded to the appropriate authorities.
On some of its accepted recommendations, the Lagos State Government stated that it will designate a park in the state and name it ‘Peace Park’ to serve as a reminder to the citizens of Lagos State of the peaceful protests all over the state against abuses of human rights.
It also accepted the panel recommendation that October 20 of every year be made a ‘Toll Free Day’ on the Lekki Tollgate as long as the tollgate exists.
The state government rejected the recommendation to make October 20 of every year ‘EndSARS Day’ national day for the remembrance of the falling youths, stating that Lagos State Government has no power to declare any day as a national day.
It said the recommendation would be forwarded to the Federal Government.
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