On October 20, 2020, scores of Nigerians, especially youths, protesting against police brutality were shot and killed by members of the Nigerian Army and the police. The incident, which is known as Lekki Massacre, has been the most controversial issue in Nigeria since last year.
The Nigerian Army denied there was any killing at the Lekki Toll Gate Lagos where the protest took place, claiming that soldiers deployed at the scene fired only blank ammunition.
A judicial panel set up on October 19, 2020 by Lagos State government to investigate and address allegations of police brutality, got the additional task to probe the Lekki Massacre.
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A year after, the judicial panel has concluded their investigation, after interviewing many witnesses and examining available evidences. It thus found that there was killing of unarmed protesters by the Nigerian security forces at Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.
In a 309-page report, which has been submitted to the Lagos State government, the panel reported that officers of the Nigerian Army “provocatively and unjustifiably” shot live bullets and killed several #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate, and then took their corpses away.
Key findings of the judicial panel.
“The Panel finds that the firing of live bullets by the Army at genuine protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, resulted in grievous injuries and the loss of lives of the protesters.
“The Panel also found that the conduct of the Nigerian Army was exacerbated by its refusal to allow ambulances render medical assistance to victims who required such assistance.
“The testimony of the EndSARS protesters, especially Miss Serah Ibrahim, Mr. Onileowo Legend, Miss Dabira Ayuku, Miss Kamsichukwu (all of whom were personally present at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20), as to the fact that the Army shot live bullets, video evidence of casualties, fatalities, etc, all lend credence to the fact that the Army shot at the protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, which resulted into deaths and other physical injuries.”
The panel held that it found from witnesses’ testimonies that “soldiers had their vans parked at the Lekki Toll Gate and removed as many bodies and corpses of the fallen protesters which they took away with their vans.
“One of the protesters who was shot and taken for dead, Olalekan Sanusi, who eventually escaped to narrate his ordeal and experience stated that 11 corpses were in the van, where he was placed in and presumed dead. Miss Dabira Ayuku also corroborated the above by stating that she saw about 7 dead bodies placed in one of the military trucks at the Lekki Toll Gate on the night of 20th October, 2020.
“The Panel believes that the deliberate absence of officers of the Nigerian Army who were present at the Lekki Toll Gate and who were summoned by the Panel was a calculated attempt to conceal material evidence from the Panel and verily believes that their presence would have damaged the case of the Nigerian Army.”
John Obafunwa, a Forensic Pathologist of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, had presented autopsy reports of 99 bodies, three of which he claimed were recovered from the Toll Gate.
But the panel “finds that the fact of lack of identity of some of the other 96 corpses on the list supplied by Professor Obafunwa would not obliterate the fact that some of them could have come from the Lekki Toll Gate Incident of October 20, 2020, or that some other unidentified corpses may have been removed by their families or the military, as claimed by the EndSARS protesters, far and beyond the list tendered by Professor Obafunwa.
“The Panel is reluctant to accept the view that a large number of the corpses tagged unknown were from the riot in Ikoyi Correctional Centre, being an institution with proper records to identify such corpses and that these may be part of the Lekki Toll Gate casualties.
“After the Nigerian Army left, the Nigeria Police Force, followed up with the killing of the protesters, shooting directly at fleeing protesters into the shanties and the Lagoon at the Lekki Phase 1 Foreshore, close to the Lekki Toll Gate, floating corpse and one-shot close to Serah Ibrahim.”
It further alleged that the LCC obstructed the panel’s investigation by refusing to provide useful evidence and an attempt to conceal the incident by cleaning up the scene.
“The panel found that LCC hampered the panel’s investigation by refusing to turn over some useful and vital information/evidence as requested by the Panel and the Forensic Expert engaged by the panel, even where such information and evidence was by the company’s admission, available. It 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.
“The Panel found 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.”
The panel also found that the police officers also tried to cover up their actions by picking up bullets and the Army was also found not to have adhered to its own Rules of Engagement.
At the conclusion of the report, the panel lists the names of those killed at the Lekki Toll Gate and made recommendations.
“The panel recommends disciplinary actions to the following officers (Lt. Col S.O. Bello and Major General Godwin Umelo), who refused to honor the summons of the panel in order to frustrate the investigation,” part of the recommendation read.
“All officers (excluding Major General Omata) and men of the Nigerian Army that were deployed to the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020 should be made to face appropriate disciplinary action, stripped of their status, and dismissed as they are not fit and proper to serve in any public or security service of the nation.
“The panel recommends that all those arrested in the course of the protest should be granted bail, prosecuted for any offence that may be alleged against them or where no prima facie evidence of culpability is disclosed upon due investigation, they should be released forthwith.
“The panel recommends that the Nigeria Army be discouraged in intervening in internal security.”
It also added that the Divisional Police Officer of Maroko Police Station along with policemen deployed from Maroko the station on the 20th and 21st of October 2020 should be prosecuted for arbitrary and indiscriminate shooting and killing of protesters.