Lai Mohammed and justice for victims of Lagos EndSARS’ protests

NOT many people may have heaved a sigh of relief over the Lagos State Government’s released White Paper on the bloody EndSARS’ protests that rocked the Centre of Excellence and other parts of the country in October last year despite its acceptance of 11 out of the 32 recommendations made by Judicial Panel of Inquiry, JPI, that probed the tragedy.

Sadly, however, the high expectations that trailed the setting up of the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel to unravel the circumstances surrounding the major crisis with a view to engendering total healing of deep wounds, genuine reconciliation and restitution in the land seem to have been dashed as the commission after submitting its report became the target of vitriolic attacks from several fronts with the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, leading the offensive.

This notwithstanding, we demand that justice be served for the entire victims of EndSARS’ protests including those who lost their loved ones, got incapacitated, had their property damaged as well as severe sanctions invoked on hoodlums and security agents found to have engaged in extra-judicial killings, lawlessness and repression of citizens’ fundamental rights in clear breach of extant laws and the Nigerian Constitution.

The unfolding unpalatable events, which in our view, are worrisome, kicked off with the publication of a leaked version of the JPI Report by a national daily, which later turned out to be authentic, indicting soldiers and policemen for killing dozens of peaceful protesters at Lekki toll gate and other parts of the state on October 20, 2020.

According to the eight-member panel’s 309-page report submitted to the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently, the Lekki toll gate incident was a massacre in which at least nine persons were killed by security agents at the scene and listed 48 names as casualties, including 22 protesters, who sustained gunshot injuries and 15 others allegedly assaulted by soldiers and policemen.

Specifically, the nine reported deceased persons names are: Victor Ibanga, Abuta Solomon, Jide, Olalekan Ashafa, Olamilekan Ajasa, Kolade Salami, Folorunsho Olabisi, Kenechukwu Ugoh, and Nathaniel Solomon, describing Abiodun Adesanya, Ifeanyi Eji, Tola, and Wisdom as “missing persons presumed dead.”
The panel further found that officers and soldiers of 65 Batallion of the Nigerian Army, “led by Lt. Col Bello, left their base with blank and live ammunitions to confront and disperse youths holding only their national flags, with live bullets,” while “the soldiers actually shot blank and live bullets directly and pointedly into the midst of the protesters at the Lekki toll gate, with the deliberate intention to assault, maim and kill.”

We further note with deep concern that, “The soldiers turned back ambulances that were invited to render first aid and assistance to the wounded protesters” apparently on a mission of “atrocious maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters while sitting on the floor and waving their Nigerian flags while singing the National Anthem can be equated to a ‘massacre’ in context.”

Therefore, it was little surprising that since the authenticity or otherwise of the killing at the toll gate was at the heart of the investigation, proponents of the alleged massacre immediately swung into action calling for the head of Lai Mohammed, who had initially declared that no such killing ever took place while the Minister, pro-government individuals and organizations fought back stoutly asking for total rejection of the panel’s report by the Governor on account of shoddy job.

In his now famous quote “massacre without human bodies” recovered from the scene of tragedy, Mohammed dismissed the report as tales by moonlight, waste of taxpayers’ money as well as highlighted 10 inconsistencies and deficiencies even as he reiterated the charge on those who lost their loved ones to stand up and speak out.

Perhaps, it escaped the Minister’s memory that massacre according to the English dictionary is “the intentional killing of a considerable number of human beings, under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty, or contrary to the norms of civilized people” and, therefore, we ask: how else such loss of many lives would have been described.

Regrettably, his tantrum against the panel it must also be pointed out, came on the heels of assurances by the Presidency to the United States Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, that the Federal Government would ensure that justice is served immediately the reports of the states’panels that investigated the heinous incidents nationwide submitted their reports to the National Economic Council, NEC, which had endorsed the commissions.

“So many state governments are involved, and have given different terms of reference to the probe panels. We, at the Federal have to wait for the steps taken by the states, and we have to allow the system to work. We can’t impose ideas on them. Federal Government has to wait for the reaction of the states,” were the words of the Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina on the issue after a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the US official.

As a matter of fact, the Minister’s total condemnation of the Panel’s report, which came after Sanwo-Olu had set up a four-member committee led by the Attorney-General of the state and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), and gave a two-week ultimatum for it to raise a White Paper on the report submitted by the panel in our opinion, is indicative of absence of harmony in government especially considering his close links with the state where he once served as the first Chief of Staff to former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu currently the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

We must similarly emphasize that his swift vilification of the Panel made up of credible Nigerians, who have proved their mettle in various spheres of human endeavour, is not only unfortunate, hasty, unbecoming, unfair but condemnable given the terms of reference handed down the JPI upon inauguration by the Governor.

Sadly too, Mohammed’s blanket condemnation of the Panel and its eminent members is capable of reopening deep wounds inflicted on the psyche of citizens earlier traumatized by the despicable killings across the land, which evoked local and global outrage.

For the purpose of clarity, members of the Panel were specifically charged with investigating the killing at Lekki toll gate on 20th October, 2020 as well as General Police Brutality Cases triggered by public outcry against the notorious State Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory Abuja where they were accused of heinous human rights abuses, official lawlessness, arbitrariness and severe repression of Nigerians.

The minimum we had expected from the Minister was utmost restraint in reacting to the report and patiently awaiting the Lagos White Paper given its very sensitive nature particularly when viewed from the heavy collateral damage suffered especially the death of many innocent souls among them security operatives and even outside the Lekki toll gate, as well as property estimated at billions of Naira.
Similarly, that government found merit in 11 out of the 32 recommendations made by the panel, to refer 14, which it noted fell outside the powers of the State, to the Federal Government for consideration and rejected one which indicted the Nigerian Army and the Lagos State Government in the killing of unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020, is a strong indication that the JPI did a thorough job by all standards.

A major recommendation accepted by Sanwo-Olu is the establishment of a ‘Standing Committee to bridge the gap between the society and the Police through information gathering, community engagement, youth sensitization; prompt intervention on issues that require intelligence gathering, policing and community policing principle.

Few hours to the release of the document entitled: ‘Government White Paper on the report of Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Lekki incident investigation on 20th October, 2020’ and ‘Government White Paper on the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Consolidated Report on General Police Brutality Cases, 10th October, 2020’, the Governor had, in rare lamentation, observed: “While I commend the panel for undertaking its task to the best of its abilities, it is, however, regrettable that the panel’s work and the leakage of an unauthorized version of the report have generated much tension. Sadly, a deep wound has been reopened”, even as he assured Lagosians that his administration “remains committed to justice and truth.”

And in apparent deft move to bridge the gulf created by the Minister between his administration and the people, he declared: “To quicken recovery and engender a better understanding, I will lead ‘A Walk for Peace’ in December to herald the healing of the land” as well as “extend an open invitation to the youths, members of the diplomatic corps, civil society groups, students and the media, as well as other stakeholders to join me in this peace walk”.

We believe that neither Mohammed nor Sanwo-Olu given their handling of the EndSARS’ protests so far, has taken adequate cognizance of the admonition of the late American Peace activist and Civil Rights leader, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, “That there can be no justice without peace, and there can be no peace without justice”, even as we challenge the Lagos State Government not to leave any stone unturned in getting to the roots of the EndSARS tragedy and serving justice to all those connected in order to guard against a recurrence.

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