Outrage, Disgust As Lagos Govt Plans To Spend N61m On Mass Burial For 103 #EndSARS Victims

By BENJAMIN OMOIKE

As questions remain unanswered – as to how many people were killed – regarding the ugly and unfortunate shooting by Nigerian soldiers at protesting youths during the #EndSARS protest on October 20, 2022, at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, the Lagos State Government on Sunday, confirmed that it had prepared the bodies of 103 #EndSARS victims for mass burial.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health in Lagos, Olusegun Ogboye, in a statement, however, stated that none of the bodies were retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate.

“For the records, the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit picked up bodies in the aftermath of #EndSARS violence and community clashes at Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo and Ajah areas of Lagos state,” Ogboye said.

“There was also a jailbreak at Ikoyi Prison. The 103 casualties mentioned in the document were from these incidents and NOT from Lekki Toll-gate as being alleged. For the avoidance of doubt, no body was retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate incident.”

Ogboye’s statement was in response to media reports citing a letter for the approval of funds for a mass burial for victims of #EndSARS protest in 2020.

The huge figure of fatalities released by the state government – which took three years in coming – however, has again not only raised dust and cast a lot of doubts in the hearts of Lagosians, and Nigerians alike, many of whom had insisted that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led government had not been entirely truthful about the number of casualties connected to the incident; it has equally stirred up fresh outrage and strong criticism among many.

Other public commentators and observers are of the opinion that the state government has not entirely come clean in this matter, as they ought to have released this figure much earlier, if indeed they had nothing to hide. They say by keeping Lagosians and Nigerians in the dark over such a sensitive matter of national interest, leaves a lot to be desired and a sour taste in the mouth.

According to Akinkunmi Madariola, a human rights lawyer, “It is quite unfortunate that it took the Lagos State Government such a long time to come out with this figure. Personally, I am deeply disappointed. With all the debate over the figures and whether people actually died at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 10, 2020; and with the government denying such claims, this huge casualty figure is an indictment on the government, especially coming after close to three years of the ill-fated incident.

“How do they expect to gain the trust of the people with this revelation? For me, their already seared image only just got worse, and it is rather condemnable for a responsible government – who are supposedly accountable to the people – to have kept this to themselves and be coming out with this now.”

Some analysts say it would take a lot for the government to convince a vast majority of the people of its sincerity and integrity in this matter of serious national and international proportion.

A community leader in Ojodu-Berger area of Lagos, Chief Nurudeen Majiyagbe, says he had always believed the government lied about the incident at the Lekki Toll Gate, and that the chickens had finally come home to roost for the government.

“How can a responsive and responsible government claim that 103 bodies were found across the state during the EndSARS protests, yet not one of them was from the Toll Gate? Not even one? The government must think we all are fools. How can you account for 103 bodies and you claim that not a single one of those bodies was from Lekki? They can tell that to the birds.

“Governor Sanwo-Olu has really failed in this matter. I tell you, there is outrage in the land. The people are incensed. Families have lost loved ones, lost their children and after three years, you say you have 103 bodies who were unclaimed in your custody? This must be a huge joke and very disgusting indeed. Initially, they said there were no bodies with them and that people who were claiming that there were bodies should produce the corpses. They should come out and tell Lagosians and Nigerians the truth, admit their gross error, apologise and hope and pray that Nigerians would be able to forgive them.”

The leaked letter by the government, dated July 19 by the Public Procurement Agency – which sparked the current agitation – disclosed that the state government engaged the service of Messrs Tos Funeral Ltd, a private firm, at the cost of N61,285,000 to bury 103 bodies that were identified as victims of the killings.

However, Ogboye said the content of the letter was being deliberately misinterpreted and sensationalised “to misinform the public, stir public sentiment and cause public disaffection against the Lagos State Government.”

He explained that the mass burial was being held because “nobody responded to claim any of the bodies” after the Chief Coroner through adverts invited members of the public who had lost loved ones or whose relatives had been declared missing between 19th and 27th October 2020.

“However, after almost three years, the bodies remain unclaimed, adding to the congestion of the morgues. This spurred the need to decongest the morgues – a procedure that follows very careful medical and legal guidelines in the event that a relative may still turn up to claim a lost relative years after the incident,” Ogboye said.

“Decongestion of our public morgues is a periodic and regular exercise approved by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to free up space in mortuaries that have a large number of unclaimed bodies.”

The EndSARS protest was a mass demonstration of Nigerians youths against police brutality and social injustice at different cities for about three weeks in October 2020.

While the protests held in different locations, Lagos State, particularly, the Lekki Tollgate was the melting point for the protesters who ate, drank, prayed and sang the Nigerian national anthem for days and nights until Tuesday, October 20, 2020 when Nigerian forces stormed the location and fired gunshots to disperse the protest.

The Nigerian Army said its personnel did not fire live bullets at the protesters. But a judicial panel set up by the Lagos State government said that “the manner of assault and killing could in context be described as a massacre.”

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on the morning after the incident, blamed forces beyond ‘direct control’ for the Lekki shooting.