Activist Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa on Wednesday said the panel
will respond to the inaccuracies, cover-ups and the inconsistencies contained
in the White Papers released by the Lagos State Government on the Lekki
Tollgate shooting.
The #EndSARS Judicial Panel of Investigation had claimed in
its report that nine people were killed at the Lekki Tollgate by the army and
police.
But the White Papers released by the Lagos State Government
on Tuesday rubbished claims by the panel that nine people were killed.
However, Adegboruwa, in a statement said since November 15,
2021, when the Reports of the #EndSARS Judicial Panel were submitted to the
Lagos State Government, a good number of his colleagues, friends and admirers
prevailed on him to refrain from further public pronouncements on the
activities and reports of the Panel since the government was studying the said
reports.
“Upon the submission of the said reports, lawyers on the
payroll of the government and other employees of the government, took turns to
denigrate the reports, on national television, in paid adverts in newspapers
and on the social media.
“Ministers in the Cabinet of the Federal Government have
also commented on the said reports, in some cases calling members of the Panel
unprintable names and even comparing victims of brutality and human rights
abuses to goats and taunting their already traumatized families and friends.
“On November 30, 2021, the government released two separate
White Papers, to the general public. The Panel was not informed of this action
and it was not availed copies of the said White Papers, till this moment.
“The Committee that reviewed the Reports of the Panel and
which produced the White Papers was headed by the Honourable Attorney-General
of Lagos State,” he said.
Adegboruwa said on December 1, 2021, the Attorney-General of
Lagos State was a guest on Arise Television, where he took time to discuss the
Reports of the Panel and the contents of the White Papers that his Committee
produced.
He stated that the impression was also created that the
Panel mismanaged funds released to it.
“It has become necessary therefore for me and all other
Members of the Panel to study the White Papers and make appropriate responses
thereto. There will be no holds barred, since the government itself has opened
the doors for public scrutiny of the report and the white papers.
“For the records, the Panel relied upon the evidence of
witnesses, documents tendered before it and the goodwill of the people of
Nigeria, throughout its assignment.
“It is painful for me and the Panel that the government is
creating the wrong impression of financial impropriety as a tool of distraction
when the Panel had a Secretariat that managed all its funds, through the
Ministry of Justice,” he said.
Adegboruwa said although he served on the Panel free of
charge without collecting a dime, he knew as a fact that other members served
sacrificially, given up their time, families and careers for a whole year.
“At the appropriate time, we will respond to all the inaccuracies, the coverups and the inconsistencies contained in the White Papers released by the government. Assuredly, nothing can ever cover the truth,” he said.
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