The Lagos State government White Paper on the report of the #EndSARS Judicial Panel of Inquiry (JPI) has received various criticisms following its release on Tuesday, November 30.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) asserted that the report on the Lekki shooting was unreliable.
Onigbanjo justified the White Paper and argued that the report and recommendations of the Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel on shooting at Lekki Toll Gate were contrary to the evidence provided.
He maintained that the state complied with the laws and the weight of evidence presented at the Judicial Panel of Inquiry to decide on the panel’s reports.
The commissioner said the positions of the Lagos State Government as stated in the White Paper was based on evidence, especially that of the Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, who said only three of the bodies that he conducted post-mortem examination on during the EndSARS protests were from Lekki, and out of them, only one had gunshot injury.
Regardless, legal luminary Prof. Paul Ananaba (SAN) said that the government should be held accountable for the White Paper while rejecting the controversy over the report as unnecessary.
He proposed the White Paper should be implemented to prevent a recurrence of the 2020 protests.
Ananaba said: “I am not interested in controversy. People have died, people have been wounded, even if it is one person in Nigeria who died in the Lekki Toll Gate protest, it is worth something, it is worth the attention of everybody. I am interested in making sure that we don’t have a second occurrence of that event. Government should implement the white paper and let us move on.”
