Adegboruwa: There are documents to defend report of #EndSARS panel

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has asked the Lagos state government to focus on the #EndSARS report instead of “demonising” the panel members.

On Monday, the panel submitted two documents — a consolidated report on cases of police brutality and another on the Lekki incident investigation — to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of the state.

Hours after submission of the report, the 309-page document appeared in the media space.

In the report, the panel said the “killing of unarmed protesters by soldiers on October 20, 2020 could be described in the context of a massacre”.

The report has elicited varied reactions, with some persons citing errors in the document currently in circulation.

Abiodun Owonikoko, counsel to Lagos government on the panel, had said Adegboruwa could not have given an “objective” position on the Lekki incident owing to his absence during sittings.

Reacting in a statement issued on Friday, Adegboruwa said it is improper for the government to subject the panel to media trials and attacks.

He said it is wrong for the government to allege discrepancies, adding that there are documents to defend the report submitted by the panel.

“I have listened to the narratives of the Lagos State Government through one of its Learned Senior Counsel at the #EndSARS Panel, to the effect that Nigerians should reject the report of the Panel because I signed it, since I was not present at some of the sittings of the Panel,” the statement reads.

“I served on the Panel on the mandate of the Governor of Lagos State, who told me on telephone that I was chosen to represent CIVIL SOCIETY. I requested for and approval was granted in writing, that my appointment was on a part-time basis.

“Furthermore, the Governor told me that two members were chosen to represent civil society on the Panel so that one of us would always be present at the Panel to excuse the absence of the other. I accepted the appointment in good faith, to serve the people, to calm frayed nerves at the time and also to restore normalcy to Lagos State. So, at all times, I functioned in partnership with my colleague from civil society, and there was no major sitting of the Panel in which both of us were absent.

“I also served on the Panel free of charge, from October 19, 2020, when the Panel was inaugurated till November 15, 2021, when the Panel submitted its report. The government was well aware of my identity, my perspectives, my philosophies and my general convictions, at least since my university days, before it nominated me into the Panel, that I will always say things the way they are. All Panel members acted in good faith, independently and in the fear of God Almighty.

“It is therefore improper for Lagos State Government, through its lawyer that appeared before the Panel and other sponsored agents, to subject the report of the Panel and indeed the integrity of Panel members to media trials and attacks, all in the bid to build up the contents of its White Paper, which we can now reasonably foretell, from these sponsored media attacks.

“It is indeed uncharitable for the same government that urged the Panel not to be held down by strict rules of technicalities of law in order to unravel the real truth about the Lekki Toll Gate Incident, to now through its counsel, talk about alleged legal discrepancies, to frustrate the good work of the Panel that it set up.

“There are documents to back up and defend the report submitted to the Governor by the Panel but I have chosen to defer to His Excellency and to await the White Paper as promised because I believe that the Governor meant well in setting up the Panel and giving us free hand to operate. I appeal to His Excellency to continue in that note of sincerity.

“There is no minority report from the Panel as the report submitted to the Governor on November 15, 2021 was unanimously endorsed by all members of the Panel, who worked tirelessly, day and night, to serve the government and the people, even at great risks to their health, personal safety, career and family obligations and their general well-being.

“I’m very sure that Panel members would have been lionized to the highest heavens if we had bought into the narrative of the government before the Panel that it was criminals, cultists, hoodlums and unknown gunmen that operated at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.

He urged the government to focus on the recommendations in the report instead of “seeking to demonise panel members and their report or to evade responsibility”.