THE Lagos State Judicial Panel on #EndSARS and police brutality has indicted the state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in the brutal intervention of the Nigerian Army at Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.
Sanwo-Olu, like the Nigerian Army, was indicted in the panel’s report submitted to the Lagos State government on Monday.
According to the report, which was seen by The ICIR, the panel stated unequivocally that the Army was brought in on the request and permission of the state government.
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“The Panel found that there was an invitation of the Nigerian Army to Lagos State made by the Lagos State Government through the governor before the hierarchy of the Nigerian Army deployed its soldiers to the Lekki Toll Gate on the night of the 20th of October,” the report said.
It also noted that there was an attempt to cover up the incident of the 20th of October by the cleaning of the Lekki Toll Gate and the failure to preserve the scene ahead of potential investigations.
It also blamed the state government of not providing adequate funding to conduct DNA test on some of the corpses recovered from Lekki Toll Gate and other parts of Lagos State where the Nigerian Army and the police committed human rights abuses.
The Lagos Concession Company (LCC) was also accused of refusing to turn over some useful and vital information as requested by forensic experts engaged by the panel.
According to the report, the LCC manipulated the incomplete CCTV video footage of the Lekki Toll Gate on the night of the 20th of October 2020, which it tendered before the panel.
Sanwo-Olu had feigned ignorance and denied that the state government invited the Nigerian Army for intervention at the Toll Gate shortly after the shootings and killings were reported.
He made an attempt to absolve himself of wrongdoings and suggested that the Federal Government was responsible when he said that the military’s intervention was prompted by forces beyond his direct control.
“This is the toughest night of our lives as forces beyond our direct control have moved to make dark notes in our history, but we will face it and come out stronger,” Sanwo-Olu had said.
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