EndSARS Victims: Matters Arising

The recent leaked memorandum from the Lagos State government which was reportedly seeking for the approval of N61.2million to carry out a mass burial of persons killed during the October 2020 mass protest against police brutality, tagged EndSARS, seems to have reopened old wounds and a controversy that has been simmering for the past three years.

Youths and other Nigerians had taken to the streets across Nigeria to demand an end to the endless extortion, torture and wanton extrajudicial killings by a police unit known as Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

The protest got to a head on October 20, 2020 at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos and other flash points in parts of that commercial city where protesters had camped for days to demand that the government fulfil their demands. The peaceful protest, however, took a different turn when soldiers tried to disperse the protesters by force. There were allegations that the soldiers used brutal force that resulted in deaths. There were also allegations that the bodies purportedly killed in the face-off were taken away, allegedly, to concealq3e3ww3w evidence.

However, both the military and the Lagos State government had vehemently denied that claim.  Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in a state broadcast, first declared that nobody died at Lekki tollgate shooting. He was later to reverse himself, saying only one person died due to ‘blunt trauma.’

In the ensuing controversy, the state government set up a judicial investigative panel to get to the root of the matter. The chief pathologist of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Prof John Obafunwa, testified before the panel and averred that 99 bodies were deposited at mortuaries across Lagos from the ENDSARS protests, several of them carrying bullet wounds, blunt trauma and bruises, with at least three of them traced to Lekki. In its 309-page report, the panel found that at least 48 protesters were either shot dead, injured with bullet wounds or assaulted by the soldiers who stormed the Lekki toll gate to disperse the protesters. It said nine persons died in that incident. The Lagos State government rejected the report, claiming the conclusions were drawn from assumptions and speculations.

Now with plans to bury 103 bodies picked up during the protest, the Lagos State government has once again insisted that no one died at the Lekki Tollgate incident, and that the dead bodies were picked up in other parts of the state during that charged period.

It said, “For the records, the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit picked up bodies in the aftermath of the #ENDSARS violence and community clashes in Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Isolo and Ajah areas of Lagos. There was also a jailbreak in Ikoyi Prison. The 103 bodies were from these incidents and not from Lekki Toll Gate.”

It added that the document requesting to bury the 103 dead bodies had been deliberately misinterpreted to cause mischief and stir up trouble.  It argued that the chief coroner of the state had taken out newspaper publications urging those whose family members were missing between October 19 and 27, 2020 to come forward for identification but that no one responded.

However, there were reports that families who came forward to identify their loved ones in a bid to take them away for decent burial were scared off. Also, those who gave DNA samples were not responded to. The DNA samples were said to have been dumped at Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre, LSD&FC, without any laboratory actions.

There are media reports that due to the current backlash after the mass burial plans surfaced, the state government has started reaching out to relatives of victims to visit LSD&FC for samples recollection. If this is true, then the state government deserves some commendation for its damage control efforts.

As a newspaper we are concerned that the contradictory narratives coming out from government sources since the ENDSARS incident have made it difficult to trace those who may have had a hand in the extrajudicial killing of innocent Nigerians. In the face of this development, Nigerians, especially relations of the deceased, would appreciate it if the government identified those responsible for the killing and bring them to justice.

In this regard, we are compelled to urge the government, as a matter of patriotic duty, to open a police investigation into the killings. Furthermore, we are persuaded to express genuine concern that the Lagos State government is committing a whopping N61.2 million as burial cost for the 103 bodies. In our considered opinion, now that the government has reopened a forensic examination of the bodies, it will be advisable for it to suspend the mass burial and do more to locate their relatives so that they can receive decent burials.