EndSARS: Reactions trail Lagos government’s White Paper

Reactions have continued to trail the White Paper released by Lagos State Government following submission of report by the judicial panel of inquiry set up to investigate cases of police brutality and alleged shooting of protesters at the Lekki Tollgate during EndSARs protest in November last year.  

The state government had in the White Paper released on Tuesday rejected the claim by the panel that nine protesters were killed, describing the claim as ‘assumptions and speculations’.

• National carrier not realistic — Senate
• Anambra gov’ship: Uba, 10 others head to tribunal as Soludo wins forgery suit

Reacting, the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George, described the White Paper as “outlandish, defeatist, insensitive, lacking the basic tenet of accountability and decency which ought to have guided such sensitive issue as the Lekki tragedy.”

George in a statement said the state government remained indicted over the Lekki incident, adding that the only way to bring closure to the incident was to apologise to the families of those who allegedly died at the Lekki Tollgate and pay them compensation.

Also, the National Coordinator of Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Michael Lenin, condemned the white paper, describing it as an attempt to water down and sidestep the main recommendations of the panel.

However, the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), justified the white paper, saying the state complied with the laws and the weight of evidence presented in the JPI to reach a decision on the panel’s reports.

Onigbanjo argued that inconsistencies and contradictions in the leaked reports that nine people died made the panel’s finding in respect to deaths unreliable.