The Lagos State Government has said that none of the 103 victims of the 2020 ENDSARS protest it wants to accord mass burial was killed at the Lekki Toll Gate.
It said the bodies were picked up from other parts of the state, including Surulere, Fagba and Ikorodu.
The state Ministry of Health confirmed this in a statement signed by its Permanent Secretary, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, made available by Gboyega Akosile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Sunday.
The statement was in reaction to an earlier leaked letter over the weekend from the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, dated July 19, 2023, addressed to the Ministry of Health and signed by the Director-General of the agency, Mr. Onafowote Idowu.
As ‘The Punch’ also reports, the letter revealed the approval of the sum of N61,285,000 for the mass burial.
“Following our review of your letter and the documents attached, we note the following I. Mr. Governor’s Approval II. Minutes of Ministerial Tenders Board III. Meeting Procurement Planning Committee IV. Sign-off.
“Following review of your request and based on the information provided therein, the agency has ‘No Objection’ to the award of contract to MESSRS. TOS FUNERALS LIMITED at a total cost of N61,285,000 only for the mass burial for the 103, the year 2020 EndSARS victims.”
But in the follow-up statement titled RE: MASS BURIAL OF ENDSARS VICTIMS (MISCHIEF MAKERS AT WORK), Ogboye said the burial was not for any victim allegedly killed at the Lekki Toll Gate during the EndSARS protest but for victims from other parts of Lagos in the aftermaths of the #EndSARS.
Ogboye said, “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 sensationalising 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 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.”
Ogboye said 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 the state.
The Perm Sec added that there was also a jailbreak at Ikoyi Prison, saying the 103 casualties mentioned in the document were from these incidents and not from Lekki Toll-gate as alleged. “For the avoidance of doubt, nobody was retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate incident,” he added.
He said contrary to the 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 morgue during the days immediately preceding and following the event at Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.
He added, “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. 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.”
“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.”
