By Halimah Olamide
The Lagos state government on Sunday said the 103 victims of the 2020 protests were not killed at the Lekki Tollgate. Rather, the government, in a statement by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, said the 103 victims slated for mass burial were those picked from the many scenes of violence that erupted in the state.
“For the records, the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit (SEHMU) 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. 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, nobody was retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate incident,” the statement explained
NPO Reported earlier that a viral letter from the office of the Public Procurement Agency in the state had communicated the Permanent Secretary approving the funds to be spent for the mass burial of the 103 victims.
The letter was titled, “Letter of No Objection – Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 ENDSARS victims.”
The government said the letter had been twisted “to misinform the public, stir public sentiment and cause public disaffection against the Lagos State Government.”
The permanent secretary explained further, “It is public knowledge that the year 2020 #EndSARS crisis that snowballed into violence in many parts of Lagos recorded casualties in different areas of the State and NOT from the Lekki Toll Gate as being inferred in the mischievous publications.”
It said contrary to what it called “disingenuous narrative weaved around the recently approved mass burial” it added that the EndSAR Panel subpoenaed the Lagos State chief pathologist to produce full records of unclaimed bodies of dead deposited with state central morgue during the days immediately preceding and following the event at Lekki tollgate on 20/10/20 .
“ The list with their autopsies of provable cause and circumstances of death were duly submitted and testified to before the panel .
“This subpoena was at the request of lawyers who represented #EndSARS protesters and the chief pathologist complied . There was not a single finding in the report or ensuing white paper attributing the death of any named citizen listed in the autopsy to the Lekki incident,” it added
It explained further that in the aftermath of the violence, the office of the Chief Coroner invited members of the public through public adverts and announcement (November 18,2020, Punch and November 19,2020 THISDAY) who had lost loved ones or whose relatives had been declared missing between 19th and 27th October 2020 from various clashes as mentioned above, to contact the department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to help with identification of these casualties deposited in State-owned morgues.
“Relatives were to undergo DNA tests for identification purposes. It is important to state categorically that nobody responded to claim any of the bodies.
“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.”
In the statement, the Government appealed to social media rumour mongers to allow the hapless families of the unclaimed loved ones a deserved closure.
After the letter had gone viral, many had called out the government of Lagos state demanding explanations over the proposed mass burial.
One of them, former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, had expressed surprise that the governor had information about the existence of 103 victims of the alleged killings.
Also, the Lagos state chapter of the Labour Party had through its twitter handle, called out the state government.