One of the many surprises to come, according to Senior Advocate of Nigeria Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, is a leaked memo from the Lagos State Government about the secret mass burial of 103 victims of the October 2020 EndSARS protest.
This was said by Adegboruwa in an interview that aired on Saturday’s episode of Law Weekly on Channels Television.
Recall that Adegboruwa was a member of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters, which was chaired by Justice Doris Okuwobi.
Nobody in Nigeria, in his opinion, would deny knowing that people died on the night of October 20, 2020.
The leaked memo from the Lagos State Ministry of Health, according to him, is just one of the many surprises that the public will continue to experience over time as long as the government has not accepted the reality of the events of October 20, 2020.
On the evening of October 20, 2020, soldiers stormed the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, where young people had gathered to protest extrajudicial killings and police brutality.
However, Adegboruwa remarked, “Perhaps the volume or total number of such fatalities would be the challenge.
But to say categorically that there were no fatalities or that no blood was shed in any way at all, specifically as a result of gunshots by Nigerian Army members, is to do a disservice to the souls of those who are impacted.
The contentious incident sparked outrage across the globe and criticism from human rights organizations like Amnesty International.
Outrage was caused by a leaked memo addressed to the Lagos State Ministry of Health that stated the state government had approved N61,285,000 for the mass burial of 103 people who had been identified as 2020 EndSARS victims.
Following Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s approval, the processing of funds was outlined in a memo dated July 19, 2023.
However, the statement insisted that the bodies had not come from the Lekki toll gate but rather had been collected by the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit (SEHMU) from places like Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo, and Ajah.
