#EndSARS Lekki Tollgate massacre: Shocking findings ~ how soldiers removed many corpses of protesters as cover-up [Pt. 6]
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The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters (Lagos EndSARS Panel) has released some shocking discoveries from the Lekki Tollgate shootings of October 20, 2020 as a massacre.
The panel indicted Nigerian soldiers and other security agents in the killing, forced disappearances and injuring of tens of harmless and unarmed youths protesting police brutality at the Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020.
Below is part five of a 309-page report submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Monday by the Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel tagged “LASG JPI Report Of The Lekki Incident Investigation Of 20th October 2020.
This part narrates how the soldiers had their vans parked at the Lekki Toll Gate and removed as many bodies and corpses of the fallen protesters which they took away with their vans.
10. Whether there was a massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20th 2020?
A. The atrocious maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters, while sitting on the floor and waving their Nigerian flags, while singing the National Anthem can be equated to a ‘massacre’ in context. “A massacre has been defined as the killing of multiple individuals, which is considered to be morally unacceptable especially when perpetrated by political actors against defenseless victims.”—Wikipedia
B. The Panel considered whether what took place at the Lekki Toll Gate on the 20th October, 2020 was a MASSACRE. According to the learned authors of MerriamWebster Online Dictionary, one of the meanings of MASSACRE is ‘the act or instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty.’
C. Against the above ‘contextual’ definitions, the Panel considered the following evidence before it:
1. The EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate were defenseless members of the civil populace, youth and young adults;
2. Both the Lagos State Government and indeed the Federal Government were well aware of their status, objectives and the nature of their protest;
3. The presence of protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate did not threaten the territorial integrity of Nigeria and could not be considered as a civil insurrection to warrant the intervention of the Nigerian Army;
4. Some top officials of the Lagos State Government met with the youths at the Lekki Toll Gate around 12-1pm of October 20, 2020, seeking selected representatives to discuss an urgent matter with them with a view to persuading them to leave the Lekki Toll Gate;
5. Officers and soldiers of 65 Batallion of the Nigerian Army, led by Lt. Col Bello, left their base with blank and live ammunitions to confront and disperse youths holding only their national flags, with live bullets;
6. The soldiers actually shot blank and live bullets directly and pointedly into the midst of the protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, with the deliberate intention to assault, maim and kill;
7. The soldiers turned back ambulances that were invited to render first aid and assistance to the wounded protesters; Uncontroverted Evidence
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8. The Panel finds that the Nigerian Army had exited the Panel at the time of the testimony of the EndSARS protesters so that their testimonies and evidence were largely uncontroverted through contrary evidence from those accused of shooting, especially the Nigerian Army. The only witness of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Taiwo admitted that he was not personally present at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.
9. The Panel finds that the cross-examinations of the EndSARS protesters by the Lagos State Government, Lekki Concession Company and the Nigeria Police Force did not impeach the direct evidence of the eye witnesses, whereas the evidence of the Lagos State Government, the Lekki Concession Company and the Police came from witnesses who stated that they were not at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.
Evidence Of Coverup
10. It was alleged and corroborated that the soldiers had their vans parked at the Lekki Toll Gate and removed as many bodies and corpses of the fallen protesters which they took away with their vans.
One of the protesters who was shot and taken for dead, Olalekan Sanusi, who eventually escaped to narrate his ordeal and experience stated that 11 corpses were in the van, where he was placed in and presumed dead. Miss Dabira Ayuku also corroborated the above by stating that she saw about 7 dead bodies placed in one of the military trucks at the Lekki Toll Gate on the night of 20th October, 2020.
