Reactions have continued to trail the recently submitted report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters, with the United Nations, (UN), United States of America (USA) and Amnesty International welcoming the conclusion of the panel and demanding sanctions against anyone indicted in the report.
The UN, in a statement signed by its Information Officer, Oluseyi Soremekun, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Edward Kallon, welcomed the submission of the panel’s report.
Kallon said, “I welcome the submission to the Lagos State Governor, H.E. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, of the reports of the judicial panel on claims of brutality and shooting in the Lekki area of Lagos State, during the 2020 EndSARS protests. I urge the government to implement the recommendations of the judicial panel of inquiry to rebuild trust and start the process of healing and reconciliation”.
Also, the US Government expressed satisfaction at the conclusion of the panel.
In a statement obtained from USA website, US stated, “We look forward to the Lagos State government’s response as part of a process that represents an important mechanism of accountability regarding the #EndSARS protests and the events that took place near the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020”.
“Those events led to serious allegations against some members of the security forces, and we look forward to the Lagos State and federal governments taking suitable measures to address those alleged abuses as well as the grievances of the victims and their families”, the statement added.
The Director, Amnesty International Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, charged President Muhammadu Buhari to act on the report of the panel.
Ojigho said that the report confirmed that the Nigerian army and police shot peaceful protesters at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020, was “the truth about what happened at Lekki Tollgate.”
The organisation said the report contradicted “the blatant denial by the Nigerian government that deadly force was used against peaceful #EndSARS protesters.”
