Lagos Govt Releases White Paper On #EndSARS Report, Accepts 11 Out Of 32 Recommendations

The Lagos State Government has released the White Paper on the #EndSARS Panel of Inquiry report.

Glamtush reports that the Lagos State Government has accepted 11 of the 32 recommendations by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS-related Abuses and Other Matters.

However, one of the recommendations was rejected, according to Gboyega Akoshile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Tuesday.

He said this after the Lagos State Government released its White Paper on the report by the EndSARS panel that probed the Lekki toll gate incident of October 20, 2020.

In a short statement, Gboyega said 14 recommendations fell outside the powers of the Lagos State Government.

In the statement titled, ‘Highlight of the Lagos Government White Paper On The Lekki Incident Investigation’, he said, “Out of the 32 recommendations made by the JPI in its Report of 15th November 2021, Government accepted 11, rejected one and accepted six with modifications.

“Fourteen recommendations fall outside the powers of the Lagos State Government and will be forwarded to the Federal Government for consideration. Let the healing begin.”

In a copy of the White Paper, the report of the killings was rejected, saying the report is full of inconsistencies and contradictions.

According to the leaked report of the judicial panel, at least nine #EndSARS protesters were killed at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

The report listed 48 names as those who were casualties of the Lekki incident of October 20, 2020.

Among the 48 casualties listed, 24 sustained gunshot injuries, while 15 others were assaulted by soldiers and police.

But the White Paper claimed the judicial report contradicted the evidence of the Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, that only three of the bodies that they conducted post mortem examination on were from Lekki that only one had gunshot injury, was not debunked.

Part of the White Paper read, “The JPI’s finding of nine deaths is therefore irreconcilable with evidence of Prof. Obafunwa that only one person died of gunshot wounds at 7:43pm at Lekki Tollgate on 21st October 2020.

“Having held that, there was no evidence before it to the contrary of what Prof. Obafunwa said. The question is, where did JPI then get its finding of nine deaths?

“This finding of nine deaths at LTG on 20th October 2020 is even more baffling because apart from listing out their names in tabular form at pages 297-298, the JPI offered no explanation regarding circumstances of their death. The names simply sprang up at pages 297-298 of the report without any justification.

Below is a copy of the 22-page White Paper on the report of the incident at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, and a second report on general incidents of police brutality in Lagos State. 

White Paper 2 on the report of general police brutality in Lagos State.