A human rights activist, Femi
Falana (SAN), has faulted a report by the US Department of State on Lekki
shootings.
The US report released on Tuesday
had claimed that there was no accurate information on the Lekki shootings that
happened on October 20, 2020.
The report also claimed that
though soldiers fired live ammunition “to disperse” #EndSARS protesters, there
is no verifiable report on the number of fatalities.
Reacting, Falana said the US
report on Lekki toll plaza incident is “contradictory and misleading”.
The lawyer also described the
report as prejudicial, saying that a panel of enquiry had been set up by the
Lagos State Hovernment into the matter.
Read full statement:
The report has attempted to cover
up the brutal killings at Lekki and other parts of Lagos from October 20-27,
2020. It is a very contradictory report. On the one hand the report claimed
that the members of the security forces were enforcing curfew by firing into
the air to disperse protesters at the toll gate. On the other hand the report
stated that some protesters had turned violent after criminal elements
infiltrated them and so the security forces forces fired protesters at the
Lekki Toll Gate. The report did not mention the detachment of the Nigerian army
which perpetrated the mayhem. Do soldiers shoot into the air to enforce curfew
in the United States?
The media should stop treating
our people like colonial subjects by celebrating a foreign report that is
subversive of the rule of law in Nigeria. How can the United States Government
be allowed to treat the proceedings before a properly constituted Judicial
Panel of Inquiry so contemptuously? The report is prejudicial in every material
particular. It should be ignored by the Judicial Panel as it is designed to
preempt the evidence being adduced by the survivors of the barbaric attack. The
report did not acknowledge that the Nigerian army which initially denied that
soldiers were present at the Lekki toll gate later turned round to admit that
they were there but fired only bland bullets. The Americans should update the
report by explaining how casualties and amputees were recorded when the
soldiers only shot into the air.
Fortunately, more credible reports
on the Lekki killings compiled by the progressive media outfits in Nigeria
including The Punch, The News, Sahara reporters and Premium Times have been
published. To their credit, these media bodies have published detailed stories
on the killings. Apart from the confirmation of the cold murder of two people
by Governor Babajide Sanwolu of Lagos State a senior surgeon from the Redington
hospital has given evidence of the protesters that were treated for gun shot
wounds. Is the United States Government not aware of the fact that some
amputees who lost their legs as a result of the shooting have appeared before
the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry?
Following the dumping of scores
of corpses from October 20-27, 2020 did the Lagos State Government not invite people
whose family members were missing to identify the corpses at the Lagos State
mortuaries? Did the Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond ASCAB not
disclose that there were 98 corpses dumped in the mortuaries? From the
information at my disposal, three of those corpses have been traced to Lekki. I
also know a lady who disclosed that her adopted son died of gunshots at Lekki
toll gate. My law firm has taken up the case of a 28-year old lady who
collapsed at Lekki with head injury and later died at a hospital in Lagos. The
names of the casualties and amputees will be revealed at the appropriate time.
Even President Buhari told the meeting of former leaders that 69 people
including 51 civilians, 11 police officers and 7 soldiers had been killed in
the unrest. The President did not say if the figures included the protesters
allegedly killed by Nigerian army in Lagos. Did the United States report probe
the breakdown of the official figures? So, why should I rely on the very
unreliable report compiled in Washington on the genocidal attacks on unarmed
protesters by soldiers from the Barracks who were illegally deployed by the
immediate past Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Buratai?
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