As Adegboruwa alleges treat to his life
Wale Igbintade
A group, New Nigeria Network in conjunction with #EndSARSUnited, has called for the immediate resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu following their indictment in the report of the Judicial Panel on the Lagos EndSARS Protest..
The group also called for the immediate release of all young Nigerians arrested and allegedly dumped in various prisons all over the country in the course of the #EndSARS struggle.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Lagos, one of the lawyers that represented EndSARS protesters, Mr. Adesina Ogunlana also called for the immediate resignation of the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Muhammed, for allegedly spreading lies and false information about the Lekki incident.
Ogunlana also called for the immediate recall of former Chief of Army Staff, General Turkur Buratai (rtd) who is the current Nigerian Ambassador to the Republic of Benin to be prosecuted for his role in the Lekki killings.
The Judicial panel had in its report indicted the Nigeria Army, Governor Sanwo-Olu, and the Nigeria Police.
Ogunlana said: ‘’We are convinced beyond doubt that the military personnel who carried out the massacre at the Lekki tollgate could not have acted without clearance from the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).
‘’We place the blame of the Lekki massacre at the doorstep of General Buhari and demand his immediate resignation.’’ We are of the view that in view of the evidence presented by the Lagos State Government before the Panel of Inquiry vis-à-vis the issues raised by the Panel, the Panel has found based on the invisible balance of evidence that there was a massacre at the Lekki tollgate.
‘’While Lagos State Government is calling for restraints, it cannot set loose its hunting dogs. We do not need to remind the Lagos State Government that the Panel of Inquiry was constituted by the Lagos State Government itself and have on the Panel as members, serving civil servants and board representatives of the same government. There is no Minority Report and the entire Panel Report was a unanimous one. The Lagos State Government should call its wagging tongues to order as the government itself has given itself 14 days to deliver a White Paper.
He stated that the mayhem and violence recorded in other parts of Lagos State did not happen at the Lekki tollgate, hence there was no need for any apprehension on the part of the government or the security agencies to seek to dispel that peaceful assembly, with soldiers bearing lethal weapons.
He said:‘’That issue of whether or not the Army kept to any particular rules of engagement is immaterial since the invitation of the Army to Lagos state and the deployment of the Army to Lekki tollgate in the first place was totally unwarranted. The Army should on no account be deployed against unarmed civilians how much less youths who are only demanding for respect for their fundamental rights’’.
Meanwhile, a member of the Lagos State EndSARS Panel, Ebun Adegboruwa, SAN, has raised the alarm over alleged threat to his life.
In a statement signed by him, Adegboruwa claimed that since the leaked report surfaced, there have been countless attacks on him.
He alleged that two lawyers who are on the side of the government have been instigating attacks on him.
Specifically, he stated that there was an assassination attempt on the life of one of the witnesses before the panel.
He, however, appealed to Nigerians to hold the government accountable if any untold danger befalls him.
The statement reads: “Since the submission of the report of the Lagos #EndSARS Panel, there have been lots of threats and attacks, by those suspected to be agents of the government, upon me, especially in the media.
“I have not committed any crime beyond joining other eminent Nigerians with unblemished integrity, to accept the nomination of government on behalf of my constituency, the Nigerian Bar Association, and the civil society and the indeed the masses of our people, for a national assignment.
“Two prominent lawyers of the government have openly incited opinions against me on national television, with mindless accusations. I have however refused to be intimidated or bend to the tactics of government to be silenced.
“I urge the good people of Nigeria, my professional colleagues in the Nigerian Bar Association, my comrades in the civil rights movement, and the people of Nigeria, to hold the government responsible should anything happen to me.
“Just last night, one of the prominent EndSARS protesters who testified before the Panel, Miss Kamsiyochukwu Ibe, was attacked and dealt serious machete blows, in what was clearly an attempted murder, as reported by her counsel, with very disturbing photos.
“I heeded the clarion call to serve by the government with the honest believe that the Panel was meant to say the truth and nothing but the truth, which is what we have done. It is left for government and Nigerians to do the needful with the report of the Panel”.
