Civil society organisations are divided on their response to the Federal Government’s dismissal of the EndSARS report by a panel set up by the Lagos State government.
It was the Minister of Information Lai Mohammed who, yesterday, delivered the government’s message regarding the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution to Investigate Cases of Police Brutality and the Incident at Lekki Toll Gate.
He said the report was “fake news” that had been made viral on social media since the incident of October 20, 2020.
“Another commentator, a journalist, called it a ‘disgraceful report by a disgraceful panel’, saying it reported allegations instead of investigating the allegations,” said the minister.
“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 questions on that report.”
The minister also accused some Nigerian media of joining in spreading falsehood. He also claimed that the Judicial Panel’s report was plagued by errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, and conclusions not supported by evidence.
While some CSOs agreed with the minister, others, such as the Coalition of United Political Parties, call it a “callous” dismissal of a blatant massacre.
Spokesman of the Coalition of United Political Parties Comrade Mark Adebayo said, “It is callous, it is inhumane and it is satanic for anybody that has his or her own children to deny an obvious and clear murder of youths at Lekki toll gate. … it is not only reprehensible, it is unacceptable.”
