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Lagos #EndSARS Panel Report: Lies, lies, more lies – Lai Mohammed
BY KAZIE UKO
The Federal Government of Nigeria has picked holes in the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other Matters.
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed presented government reaction to the panel’s report, recently submitted to the Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, a version of which had been leaked to the public.
The report confirmed that indeed protesters were killed by security agents at the Lekki Toll Gate end of the two-week long agitation by Nigerian youths, against police brutality and extra judicial killings by operatives of the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The Federal Government had vehemently denied that the army, called in to quail the protest, had shot any protester at the Lekki toll plaza.
Addressing a press conference Tuesday in Abuja, Mohammed restated Federal Government’s denial that no one protester was killed by the army or police, describing the judicial panel’s report as fake news.
The minister said: “Without mincing words, let me say that never in the history of any Judicial Panel in this country has its report been riddled with so many errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, speculations, innuendoes, omissions and conclusions that are not supported by evidence.
READ: #EndSARS: 48 casualties, 11 persons ‘massacred’ – Lagos Panel (full list)
“What is circulating in public space is simply a rehash of the unverified fake news that has been playing on social media since the incident of Oct. 20th 2020.
“It is simply incredible that a Judicial Panel set up to investigate an incident has submitted a report laden with allegations, the same allegations it was set up to investigate in the first instance. Instead of sitting for all of one year, the panel could have just compiled social media ‘tales by the moonlight’ on the incident and submitted, saving taxpayers’ funds and everyone’s time.
“That report is nothing but the triumph of fake news and the intimidation of a silent majority by a vociferous lynch mob.”
Mohammed said the report of the panel which has gone viral cannot be relied upon because its authenticity was in doubt, especially since neither the Lagos State Government which convened the panel nor the panel itself was yet to release any official report to the public.
“The cowardly leakage of an unsigned report to the public is not enough. Assuming the report in circulation bears any iota of genuineness, it is basic knowledge that the report of such a panel is of no force until the convening authority issues a White Paper and Gazette on it.
“It is therefore too premature for any person or entity to seek to castigate the Federal Government and its agencies or officials based on such an unofficial and unvalidated report,” he said.
The minister insisted that there was “absolutely nothing in the report” in circulation that would make the Federal Government change its position that there was no massacre at Lekki on Oct. 20th 2020.
READ: Adegboruwa alleges threat to life over #EndSARS panel report
“For us to change our stand, a well-investigated report of the incident that meets all required standards and will withstand every scrutiny must be produced and presented to the public. The report in circulation does not meet those requirements.
“We also appeal to the families of those allegedly killed in Lekki to speak out. It’s untenable to say that some families did not come out because they are afraid. Any parent who is afraid to testify about the death of his or her child is not worth to be called a parent.
“We reject the notion that our soldiers and policemen massacred innocent Nigerians at Lekki on Oct. 20th 2020. That conclusion is not supported by the weight of available evidence. Indictment for murder is a very serious issue that cannot be done on the basis of allegations and corroborations, as the panel did. Such allegations must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The report in circulation is calculated to embarrass the Federal Government and its agencies without fool-proof evidence. The Federal Government has never condoned the abuse of the rights of Nigerians by security agencies under any guise, hence it disbanded SARS and encouraged states to set up the panels to investigate reports of human rights abuses allegedly committed by the disbanded SARS personnel,” Mohammed declared.
