EndSARS Report: Lai Mohammed under fire

 

 

President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to order the dismissal, arrest and trial of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed for lying to Nigerians and the rest of the world over the massacre of protesters at Lekki Toll Gate in October last year.

 

The call followed the report of the Lagos State Government-appointed Panel of Investigation into the events of October 20, 2020, at the popular Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos State and EndSARS protest across the state.

 

Officers of the Nigerian Army and policemen were accused of killing and maiming unarmed youths protesting illegal police activities and bad governance in Nigeria, according to a report released Monday.

 

It would be recalled that Alhaji Mohammed has repeatedly denied that anyone was killed when soldiers stormed the protest scene in a series of press conferences and described the killings as “massacre without human bodies” recovered from the scene.

 

Despite the Federal Government’s denials, the report provides a clear evidence that a massacre took place at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.

 

In its reaction to the retired Justice Dorris Okuwobi- led Panel report, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) called for Mohammed  dismissal, arrest, and trial for his blatant lies, which a judicial panel of investigators in Lagos has now refuted.

 

HURIWA made the demand in a statement issued on Tuesday

 

During the protest, the Army and Police broke their rules of engagement, according to the 309-page report.

 

The Minister also disputed Amnesty International’s claim that security operatives killed at least 12 protesters in Lagos State during the EndSARS protest, according to HURIWA.

 

The body “is asking President Muhammadu Buhari as a biological father of many well-educated children, to order the arrest and prosecution of his minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed for committing a grave and heartless offence that is equivalent to the denial of the Holocaust of the 6 million Jews by Adolf Hitler which is punishable by nearly half a century of incarceration. ”

 

HURIWA “is also commending the brave members and Chairperson of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the #EndSARS Protests especially the circumstances surrounding the massive cases of extrajudicial killings by the Army and armed police when these armed forces opened fire with lethal weapons targeted at the unarmed protesters.”

 

The rights group further  asked Buhari not to sweep the lawlessness of the security agencies under the carpets just as it said if the President allows his information minister to get away with the impunity of denying the massacre that happened before the eyes of the World captured live on video cameras, then he will be remembered long after he has retired from public office as a dictator who oversaw the genocide of young protesters and the generations unborn will never forgive him for this.

 

“President Muhammadu Buhari must note that as a father of many children, he needs to ensure that impunity is never tolerated especially the extra-judicial killings of very youngsters of Nigeria by the Army just for protesting police Brutality”, HURIWA noted.

 

 

Also, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN  and a presidential aspirant of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for 2023 elections, Kingsley Moghalu, has reacted to the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, which affirmed the killing of peaceful Nigerians protesting police brutality at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos last year.

 

In a statement on Tuesday, Moghalu, said the officers in the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force who gave the unlawful orders for the extra-judicial killings as well as those who pulled the trigger must pay for their crimes with prosecution and imprisonment.

 

The statement read in part: ‘‘As I said when the news of the killings broke to the world, these are violations of international humanitarian law in addition to national laws.

 

“This was mass murder and attempted mass murder, pure and simple. The perpetrators must not go free, and adequate restitution which also is within the mandate of the judicial panel must be made to all the protesters who were murdered in cold blood, injured or assaulted.

 

‘‘As a United Nations official in the mid-1990s, I trained Cambodian and Croatian security institutions in human rights standards to prevent the kind of extra-judicial killings and police brutality that occurred at Lekki and which the #EndSARS protests confronted.

 

“Nigeria has turned into a country marked by an increasing rise of official lawlessness, arbitrariness and repression of its citizens by agencies of the Government.

 

“This does not behove a country that claims to be a democracy. Root and branch reform of the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force on respect for the human rights of Nigerian civilians remains urgently needed.

 

“It must not only be declared as done or as a rhetorical objective. It must be seen to have happened going forward.

 

‘’President Muhammadu Buhari should take responsibility as the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces for the Lekki Toll Gate massacre. He must ensure and enforce accountability for this heinous crime by troops and other security agents under his ultimate command.

 

“At the very least, in addition to judicial accountability for the victims, he and his government owe the families of the victims and Nigerians, in general, a formal and unreserved apology for this tragic occurrence.

 

‘I offer my heartfelt condolences once again to the families of the deceased victims of the Lekki Massacre. October 20, 2020, was a day that will live in infamy in the history of Nigeria.

 

“May the blood of our youth shed by those whose duty it was to protect their lives not have been spilt in vain. May this kind of tragedy never happens again in our land,’ Moghalu stated.

 

 

Meanwhile, The United States Government has welcomed the conclusion of work by the Lagos State Panel for victims of SARS related abuses and other matters.

 

The judicial body investigated petitions on Police brutality as well as Army’s invasion and shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020 during End SARS protests.

 

The panel chairman, Justice Doris Okuwobi (retired) submitted the report at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Monday.

 

Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu received the findings, recommendations and set up a four-member committee to come up with a White Paper.

 

The team led by Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), will come up with a White Paper in two weeks.

 

Receiving the report, Sanwo-Olu promised that the state government’s action would be guided by the law and in the public interest.

 

However, in a statement on Tuesday, the US Mission in Nigeria said America awaits the response from President Muhammadu Buhari government and Lagos State authorities.

 

The Embassy said official actions are part of a process that represents an important mechanism of accountability regarding the EndSARS protests and the events at the tollgate.

 

It noted that: “Those events led to serious allegations against some members of the security forces”.

 

The statement reads: “We look forward to the Lagos State and Federal Governments taking suitable measures to address those alleged abuses as well as the grievances of the victims and their families.”

 

Also, The United Nations has called on Nigeria to implement the recommendations of the judicial panel of inquiry to rebuild trust and start the process of healing and reconciliation.

 

A statement on Tuesday by UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon said the submission on Monday of the report of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution is welcomed.

 

Kallon said: “I welcome the submission to the Lagos State Governor, H.E. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, of the reports of the judicial panel on claims of brutality and shooting in the Lekki area of Lagos State, during the 2020 EndSARS protests.”

 

He noted that the submission of the findings of the judicial panel would accelerate the process of justice and accountability.

 

Kallon however added: “I urge the government to implement the recommendations of the judicial panel of inquiry to rebuild trust and start the process of healing and reconciliation.”

In a another development, One of the #EndSARS protesters lawyers, Adesina Ogunlana, says more than nine protesters were killed at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

 

He explained that the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS-related Abuses and Other Matters named only nine deceased because of the evidence available before them.

 

According to the report submitted by the panel, no fewer than nine #EndSARS protesters were killed at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020, while four others were presumed dead.

 

The report listed 48 names as those who were casualties of the Lekki incident of October 20, 2020.

 

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, but were rejected over lack of concrete evidence linking the cause of their deaths to the Lekki tollgate.

 

The lawyer lamented that many families and witnesses were scared to testify publicly before the panel.

 

While commending the efforts of the panel, he noted that the pieces of evidence supplied by the protesters and their legal teams overpowered those of the Army, police, and Lekki Concession Company.

 

 

Ogunlana said, “It was a quality report not because it is favourable to us but the meticulous efforts that went into it. A report of over 300 pages is not a joke. That report was unanimous. The police representative was there, government, respected lawyers and you have a sitting judge who did not sell her integrity.

 

“The representation was rich and balanced. Our pieces of evidence overpowered them. They were more credible than those of LCC, police, army. The evidence brought by the petitioners was a quality one that sailed through despite cross-examination.

 

“I give kudos to the teams defending the protesters. We had galLant ladies that came up despite the intimidation. There was a fair hearing.”

 

When asked if only nine protesters were killed, he replied, “They are more than nine but the panel worked with those with concrete evidence.

 

“Some of the eyewitnesses and relatives were scared to speak. It was hectic to get people to testify. Some thought they will be killed.

 

“Assuming that there was no fear, more people would have come out. Some people are regretting they didn’t come out to. About five people withdrew when it was time to testify before the panel. They thought they will be hurt later.”