The Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the alleged shootings
of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers on October 20, 2020 at the Lekki tollgate in
Lagos has declined the request by the operators of the tollgate, Lekki
Concession Company, to “take back possession” of the tollgate.
The Chairman of the panel, retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, in
a short ruling on Tuesday, said the tollgate plaza would remain closed.
The judge said the panel might have a need to pay another
visit to the tollgate plaza after watching the video footage from a surveillance
camera submitted by the LCC on Tuesday.
Counsel for LCC, Rotimi Seriki, had urged the panel to allow
the firm “take possession” of the tollgate plaza to evaluate the level of
damage for the purpose insurance claims.
Seriki was reinforcing an earlier request at the proceeding
by the LCC Managing Director, Abayomi Omomuwa, who said save for last Friday
when he led the panel on a visit to the toll plaza, the place had been
inaccessible to LCC management.
Omomuwa said from what he saw during last Friday visit, the
level of damage was so much, it would take LCC not less than six months to fix
the tollgate plaza.
Omomuwa, who was answering a question on how soon the
tollgate would resume operation, said, “Any projection made here will just be
guesswork. When we went there that day, I saw the level of damage. The whole
tolling system is completely destroyed. It will not take anything less than six
months to fix.
“I want to plead that they let us have access so that we can
process insurance.”
Reinforcing Omomuwa’s request, LCC lawyer, Seriki, said, “My
humble request is that if the tribunal doesn’t have further need to visit the
plaza, the LCC should be permitted to take back possession of the toll plaza
for the purpose of evaluation of the damage and commence the process of
carrying out necessary repairs.”
But ruling, Justice Okuwobi said the panel agreed that it
was necessary for LCC to go and evaluate the level of damage “but we will not
grant that access yet. The need may arise for the panel to revisit.”
The panel chairman encouraged LCC to make the application
after the panel must have watched the video footage submitted by the firm.
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