Information minister Lai Mohammed has said the Federal Government cannot accept the report of a judicial panel set up to investigate the attack on unarmed #EndSARS protesters at Lekki Toll gate on October 20, 2020.
Recall that a judicial panel was set up by the Lagos state government to investigate the crackdown at Lekki and other claims of police brutality. The Commission’s findings were leaked last week and widely circulated online.
The leaked report, which was submitted to State authorities on November 15, contradicts the army’s version of what happened at the city’s Lekki tollgate. The report found that 11 people were killed, four more were missing and 21 others were wounded by gunshots.
Amnesty International said separately last year that 10 people were killed.
However, Mohammed maintained that the government believed there was no massacre. The minister said the report, which indicted the Nigerian Army, Police and Lekki Concession Company, is filled with errors and contradictions. The Army has also denied that security forces opened fire with live rounds.
Mohammed told newsmen yesterday “there is absolutely nothing in the report that is circulating to make us change our stand that there was no massacre at Lekki”. He insisted that the report was “riddled with errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, innuendos and conclusions that are not supported by evidence”, adding that the document ‘cannot be relied upon’ as it is not yet officially public.
Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has vowed a ‘proper response’ to the panel’s recommendations, adding that a “white paper” would be published by the end of the month.
