- Says it’s ridden with inconsistencies, errors, omissions, discrepancies and innuendoes
Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has rubbished the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry that investigated cases of police brutality as well as the October 20, 2020 killings at Lekki Toll Gate as a rehash of social media fake news and an effort ridden with inconsistencies, errors, omissions, discrepancies and innuendoes.
The minister dismissed the report when he addressed the media on Tuesday in Abuja.
He likened the report to the triumph of fake news and the intimidation of a silent majority by a vociferous lynch mob.
“There is absolutely nothing in the report that is circulating to make us change our stand that there was no massacre at Lekki on October 20, 2020. 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,” Mohammed declared.
The minister rapped the Judicial Panel set up to investigate the incident for submitting a report laden with allegations, the same allegations it was set up to investigate in the first instance.
He added that instead of sitting for a whole year, the panel could have conveniently compiled social media ‘tales by the moonlight’ on the incident and submitted it, in the process saving taxpayers’ funds and everyone’s time.
” Gentlemen, we have read some critical analysis of the report by a courageous few. One commentator, a lawyer, said it raised more questions than answers.
” Another commentator, a journalist, called it a ‘disgraceful report by a disgraceful panel’, saying it reported allegations instead of investigating the allegations.
” Yet another wondered how a Judicial Panel could use the words ‘massacre in context’ and equate such to a massacre. All these and many more have raised valid questions on that report. “We salute their courage and refusal to be cowed by the rampaging lynch mob that has been screaming blue murder since the report was released, ” he said.
He accused the panel of throwing away the testimony of ballistic experts who testified before it, wherein the experts said
no military grade live ammunition was fired at
the protesters at Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020, within the timeframe of reference (18.30- 20.34hrs) and that the four gun shot injuries that were examined by the Team were caused by
either low velocity caliber and locally-fabricated weapons.
He wondered how that same panel that said it deemed as credible the evidence of the Forensic Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, that only three of the bodies on which post mortem were conducted were from Lekki and only one had gunshot injury went on to contradict itself by saying nine persons died of gunshot wounds at Lekki.
The minister rapped the panel for maintaining silence on the family members of those reportedly killed, merely insinuating they were afraid to testify.
He averred: “Even goats have owners who will look for them if they do not return home, not to talk of human beings. Where are the family members of those who were reportedly killed at Lekki Toll Gate? If the panel is recommending compensation for the families, what are their identities and addresses? Who will receive the compensations when no family members have shown up to date?”.
He faulted the report for not referring to instances of police personnel, who were brutally murdered, plus the massive destruction of police stations and vehicles during the EndSARS protest, wondering if that implied that the panel did not consider policemen and women as human beings.
In addition, he scorned the report for not recommendating compensations for the innocent people whose businesses were attacked and destroyed during the protest in Lagos as it was too busy looking for evidence to support its conclusion of ‘massacre in context’.
“It is clear, from the ongoing, that the report of the panel in circulation cannot be relied upon because its authenticity is in doubt. Besides, the Lagos State Government, being the convening authority, has yet to release any official report to the public.
“Neither has the panel done so. 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.
More to follow ……
