Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has recalled details of the incidents that took place on 20th October, 2020, and the events that occurred afterwards, .
He also stated that all those involved, as well as those who tried to cover up the shooting of peaceful EndSARS protesters, at the Lekki Toll Gate, must be sanctioned.
Falana was reacting generally to the report by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS-Related Abuses and Other Matters, which was sent to the Lagos State Government, on Monday.
He spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’, on Thursday.
When asked whether President Muhammadu Buhari should speak on the report of the Panel, he stated: “No, not yet; the President made a broadcast last year in 2020, based on the information given to him. I am sure you are aware that five times, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said nobody was killed. The Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), said those who appeared in Lekki were not Nigerian Soldiers, but people just put on Military uniforms to perpetrate atrocities.
“Even the Military denied that, (but) it was when the young people who are advanced in technology, and who took photographs in the night when the Soldiers were shooting, it was at that stage that the Military said, ‘Yes, we were shooting, we only shot into the air’.
“And the Panel found that even LAWMA (Lagos State Waste Management Authority) went there to do a clean-up in the night, in the early hours of 21st (of October 2020), so that there would be no trail, but by the time the Panel visited the scene of the incident, they were still able to pick some expired bullets.
“The Panel painstakingly analysed the evidence of every Witness, before arriving at the conclusion. So, it is difficult to cover up what happened on that day.”
On what should happen to the Federal Officers who allegedly tried to cover up the crime, Falana said: “They are all going to be sanctioned. Anybody who attempted to cover up would be sanctioned, any of them, including those who managed Lekki, the LCC, because they disabled their system in order to cover up.”
“Any regime in the world that says these are Federal Officers, and we are not going to sanction them, if you do not, these are materials for the ICC (International Criminal Court). Under the Rome Statute, the ICC will only intervene, if a government is unwilling or unable to prosecute those who engaged in crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression. If by the time the (Lagos State) Government issues its White Paper, recommendations are made, and these people are not prosecuted, that is not the end of the matter. No President can behave as in the ‘80s, that this is an internal affair.”