Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria says that the
statement by Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, rubbishing the
report of the Lagos panel on the Lekki shootings, when his principal, Muhammadu Buhari, is awaiting the White Paper to be released by
the Lagos State Government goes to shows that there is no cohesion between the Federal
Government and the sub-nationals.
Recall that the Justice Doris
Okuwobi-led panel on November 15, 2021, submitted its report to the Lagos State
Government, noting that at least nine persons were confirmed dead at the Lekki
toll plaza when soldiers stormed the tollgate to disperse EndSARS protesters on
October 20, 2020.
The 309-page leaked report stated, “The atrocious maiming
and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters while sitting on
the floor and waving their Nigerian flags and while singing the National Anthem
can be equated to a massacre in context.”
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who received the
report, said he had constituted a Committee to bring forward a White Paper
within the next two weeks to be considered by the Lagos State Executive
Council.
United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, on a
two-day official visit to Nigeria last week, had said that the submission of
the report by the Lagos panel was an important step towards accountability for
killings and rights abuses allegedly committed by some operatives of the
Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army.
Blinken had met with the Nigerian President at Aso Rock in
Abuja, and Buhari had said the Federal Government was waiting on Lagos State
and other state governments to come up with their conclusions.
But at a press conference on Monday, Mohammed said, “It is
simply incredible that a judicial panel set up to investigate an incident has
submitted a report laden with allegations, the same allegations it was set up
to investigate in the first instance.
“Instead of sitting for all of one year, the panel could
have just compiled social media tales by the moonlight on the incident and
submitted, saving taxpayers’ funds and everyone’s time. That report is nothing
but the triumph of fake news and the intimidation of a silent majority by a
vociferous lynch mob.”
‘Lai disrespected Buhari, Sanwo-Olu, has no business in
govt’
Reacting, HURIWA National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko,
said on Tuesday that the minister disrespected Sanwo-Olu by
rubbishing the panel’s report before the release of the White Paper by the
state government.
Onwubiko said Mohammed has no business being in government
any longer.
The HURIWA coordinator said, “The reaction of Lai Mohammed
stridently denying the clear and evidently proven massacre of gargantuan
proportions in Lekki Toll Gate on 20th October 2020 and his attempt to rubbish
and discredit the report of the illustrious Lagos State Judicial Panel on
#EndSARS protest, is a demonstration that there is no coherence and cohesion in
government at the centre.
“It shows that there is truly nobody at the Centre who is
providing leadership in which case the cabinet-level ministers are doing and
saying whatever they deemed alright in their warped imagination to say or do.
“The Minister of Information Lai Mohammed has succeeded in revealing
the spectacular collapse of the Presidency and that governance is now through
an autopilot mode. It is sad, pathetic and disappointing that the Minister
spoke even before a White paper is published by the Lagos State Government and
it shows that he has no respect for the sensitivity and sacredness of the many
lives that were needlessly wasted by soldiers and police.
“He has no valid reason to remain as a minister because he
has lost all modicum of self respect and I think Nigerians will no longer take
the Federal government serious if he remains in office as the official
spokesperson of the Government.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com