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The Lagos State government has debunked claims flying around that it plans to bury 103 bodies allegedly killed at the Lekki Toll Gate during the #EndSARS protest of October 2023.
It'd be recalled that the mass anti-police movement that rocked the nation about three years ago took an interesting turn on the night of October 20, when men of the Nigerian Army stormed the Lekki toll plaza to disperse the mammoth crowd by firing "blank bullets" at them.
The event, which is controversially referred to as the Lekki Massacre, has continued to divide opinions as the government and the military maintained that no one was killed during the action while some protesters who were present on the scene gave conflicting accounts.
However, a leaked memo surfaced online over the weekend from the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency dated July 19, 2023, addressed to the Ministry of Health and signed by the Director-General of the agency, Onafowote Idowu.
The letter contained an approval of the sum ₦61,285,000 for the mass burial of 103 bodies recovered during the #EndSARS protest.
It partly read, “We refer to your letter dated July 13, 2023, with Ref No: LSMH/G/NS/013-1/23 in respect of the above subject matter.
“Following our review of your letter and the documents attached, we note the following I. Mr. Governor’s Approval II. Minutes of Ministerial Tenders Board III. Meeting Procurement Planning Committee IV. Sign-off.
“Following review of your request and based on the information provided therein, the agency has ‘No Objection’ to the award of contract to MESSRS. TOS FUNERALS LIMITED at a total cost of ₦61,285,000 only for the mass burial for the 103, the year 2020 EndSARS victims.”
The letter has reignited claims that there were fatalities recorded on the night of the military action at the toll plaza but the state government has now come out to explain the true situation of things.
In its rebuttal titled, RE: MASS BURIAL OF ENDSARS VICTIMS (MISCHIEF MAKERS AT WORK) and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Health, Dr Olusegun Ogboye, the government said the bodies slated for burial were recovered from other parts of the state in the aftermath of the EndSARS protests.
Ogboye said, “The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to some social media publications about a purported mass burial plan for casualties of the 2020 #EndSARS incident.
"Peddlers of the news are deliberately misinterpreting and sensationalising a letter from the Lagos State Government Public Procurement Agency titled: Letter of No Objection – Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 ENDSARS victims, to misinform the public, stir public sentiment and cause public disaffection against the Lagos State Government.
“It is public knowledge that the year 2020 #EndSARS crisis that snowballed into violence in many parts of Lagos recorded casualties in different areas of the state and not from the Lekki Toll Gate as being inferred in the mischievous publications.”
The statement, made available by Gboyega Akosile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Sunday, July 23, 2023, also quoted Ogboye to have said that the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit picked up bodies in the aftermath of EndSARS violence and community clashes at Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo and Ajah areas of the state.
The Permanent Secretary also recalled that there was a jailbreak at the Ikoyi Prison, saying that the 103 bodies mentioned in the leaked memo were from these incidents and not from the Lekki Toll Gate as alleged.
“For the avoidance of doubt, nobody was retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate incident,” he stressed.
He added, Contrary to disingenuous narrative weaved around the recently approved mass burial , the #EndSARs Panel subpoenaed the Lagos State chief pathologist to produce full records of unclaimed bodies of dead deposited with state central morgue during the days immediately preceding and following the event at Lekki tollgate on 20/10/20.
“The list with their autopsies of provable cause and circumstances of death was duly submitted and testified to before the panel. This subpoena was at the request of lawyers who represented #EndSARS protesters and the chief pathologist complied. There was not a single finding in the report or ensuing white paper attributing the death of any named citizen listed in the autopsy to the Lekki incident.
"In the aftermath of the #EndSARS violence, the office of the Chief Coroner invited members of the public through public adverts and announcement (November 18,2020, Punch and November 19,2020 THISDAY) who had lost loved ones or whose relatives had been declared missing between 19th and 27th October 2020 from various clashes as mentioned above, to contact the department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to help with identification of these casualties deposited in State-owned morgues. Relatives were to undergo DNA tests for identification purposes. It is important to state categorically that nobody responded to claim any of the bodies.
“However, after almost three years, the bodies remain unclaimed, adding to the congestion of the morgues. This spurred the need to decongest the morgues – a procedure that follows very careful medical and legal guidelines in the event that a relative may still turn up to claim a lost relative years after the incident,” the statement read.