Lagos judicial panel visits Lekki tollgate

The panel the Lagos state government set up to probe brutality and high-handedness of the disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS) visited the Lekki tollgate on Friday.

Protesters converged on the tollgate for 13 days before they were forcefully dispersed by soldiers.

There are reports that some of the protesters were killed by the soldiers who stormed the tollgate on October 20, 2020, but no clear evidence has been produced.

Those who sustained injuries have been treated while some of have been discharged from the hospital.

On Friday, Doris Okuwobi, chairperson of the panel, led her team to the scene of the shooting, which attracted global attention.

Yomi Omomuwansa, managing director, Lekki Concession Company (LCC), took the panel on an inspection tour.

He said most of their equipment were damaged by suspected hoodlums after the shooting incident.

Earlier, Gbolahan Aboluwaje, head of the legal department of LCC, testified before the panel, saying the company is ready to show footage of the incident.

He said there are hours of recordings on the CCTV footage.

He said the LCC received a summons from the panel on Wednesday, to appear before it, present the October 20 footage, an investigation report and any other document.

He clarified that while the “LCC is prepared to air the footage before the panel” but no investigative report or document is available.

“We have the footage. We do not have an investigation report because we know that investigations are ongoing and we have not been able to provide any document,” he had said.

“We had a very short notice and we brought what we were able to lay our hands on.”

The panel had its first sitting on Tuesday, exactly a week after the shooting at the tollgate.

The sitting commenced with the swearing-in of Rinu Odulala and Temitope Majekodunmi as representatives of youths on the panel.

Also, sworn-in as a member of the panel is Lucas Koyejo representing the Nigeria Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The only petitioner taken on Tuesday, Okoli Aguwu explained that he spent 47 days in SARS detention, accused of theft by his boss.