The Lagos State Government late Tuesday released its much anticipated White paper on the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters.
The government had promised to release the White paper wherein its decisions and comments on the report of panel will be contained.
In the leaked version of the report of the Lagos panel, the Nigerian Army and police were indicted to have used live bullets on peaceful protesters who were present at the Lekki toll plaza on October 20, 2020, leading to the death of about nine persons.
But, the lagos state government, in the White Paper issued by State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, flayed some claims in the reports, maintaining that it was full of discrepancies, irregularities and inaccuracies.
The government also rejected claims that nine people died at the Lekki Toll Gate Plaza.
According to the state government, the panel failed to establish that there was indeed an arbitrary and indiscriminate killing of protesters at the toll gate during the #EndSARS protests in October, 2020.
The paper partly reads, “are clearly and manifestly not supported by the evidence before the JPI as attested to by the JPI itself, when it said there was no contrary evidence to that of Prof. Obafunwa that only one person died at Lekki Toll Gate of gunshot wounds on 21st October 2020”.
“The state government is, therefore, unable to accept the finding that nine (9) people died of gunshot wounds at LTG on 20th October 2020.
“It also follows that the irresistible conclusion to be drawn from the JPI’s acceptance of Prof. Obafunwa’s testimony that only one (1) person died of gunshot wounds at LTG on 21st October 2020 is that there was no massacre at LTG, contextual or otherwise.
“The findings of JPI that nine (9) people died at the LTG on 20th October 2020 from gunshots fired by the military are based on assumptions and speculations.
“The inconsistencies and contradictions in the entire JPI Report concerning the number of persons who died at LTG on 20th October 2020 and their cause of death rendered the JPI’s finding and conclusions there upon totally unreliable and therefore, unacceptable.”
Also, out total 32 recommendations made in the report, the state government only accepted 11, six others were accepted with modifications, while one was rejected. The government said the remaining 14 others fall outside the jurisdiction of its powers.
The position of the Lagos state government also came on the heels of the rejection of the report by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Recall that Mohammed had dismissed the report, saying that it was full of errors and conclusions not supported by evidence.
The Minister also flayed claims that a massacre occurred at Lekki toll gate on October 20, saying neither the army nor the police shot at the protesters.
Following the release of the White Paper, Nigerians on Social media have begun to give their opinion with many questioning the stance of the Lagos state government.
Below here are some of the views harvested from the social media;
“The Lagos #whitepaper is a White wash.Cherrypicking the truth from the buffet of truths.”(@Senator Shehu sani)
“There is nothing white about Sanwo-olu’s Whitepaper. It is bloodily stained with lies, manipulation, deceit and malice. A very dirty and crimson white paper. Nigerians know better. #EndSARS”(@mrfestusogun)
“You set up panel for yourself to investigate yourself and they presented their findings to you yourself.
“Now you do a white paper and say all the bad things the panel said about you are “assumptions and speculation”
“Na wa o. Are we serious at all in this country?”(@morris_monye)
“I was actually thinking the whole report will be thrown in to thrash.
“The question is, where are the deceased families? They should come forward for compensation, all I see are people just ranting and crying on a massacre that never happened.”(@ibnbazo)
“The original panel sat for over a year and met with all witnesses from both the accused and the victims sides before they came out with their report while this kangaroo panel met with only themselves and miraculously came out with the white paper.#EndSARS.”(@naijanewsCEO)
