News
#EndSARS: Mass Burial of Victims Not from Lekki
#EndSARS: Mass Burial of Victims Not from Lekki
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said yesterday that viral news of the alleged mass burial of victims of the #EndSars protests was deliberately misinterpreted and sensationalized to create mischief because there was no leaked document in the first place and the said victims were not from the Lekki toll plaza, the center of the October 2020 anti-police brutality protests.
In a press release by Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, the government stated that the attention of the “Lagos State Government has been drawn to some social media publications about a purported mass burial plan for casualties of the 2020 #EndSARS incident.
“Peddlers of the news are deliberately misinterpreting and sensationalizing a letter from the Lagos State Government Public Procurement Agency titled: Letter of No Objection—Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 ENDSARS victims, to misinform the public, stir public sentiment, and cause public disaffection against the Lagos State Government.
“It is public knowledge that the 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.
“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.
EndSARS-Movement-Poster
#EndSARS: Mass Burial of Victims Not from Lekki
“Contrary to the disingenuous narrative weaved around the recently approved mass burial, the #EndSARs Panel subpoenaed the Lagos State chief pathologist to produce full records of unclaimed bodies of dead deposited with the state central mortuary during the days immediately preceding and following the event at Lekki tollgate on 10/20/20.
“The list with their autopsies of provable cause and circumstances of death was 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.
32 survivors of the Lagos train crash have been discharged —Commissioner
“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.
“In the aftermath of the #EndSARS violence, the office of the Chief Coroner invited members of the public through public advertisements and announcements (November 18, 2020, Punch, and November 19, 2020, THISDAY), who had lost loved ones or whose relatives had been declared missing between October 19th and October 27th, 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 mortuaries.
“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 mortuaries. This spurred the need to decongest the mortuaries, a procedure that follows very careful medical and legal guidelines if a relative may still turn up to claim a lost relative years after the incident.
“The government, therefore, appeals to social media rumour mongers to please allow the hapless families of the unclaimed loved ones a deserved closure.”
