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Lagos State government approved mass burial for 103 dead #EndSARS protesters.
The protest which happened in October 2020 called for the disbandment of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.
However, the peaceful protest was hijacked by thugs, who caused chaos, loot resources and vandalised valuable shops and government resources.
Led by young Nigerians, thousands of protesters stormed the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos to further escalate their demand for the disbanding of SARS.
While the protesters mounted the Toll Gates for days, the stake went high on October 20, 2020, when the #EndSARS protesters grew into millions.
In a turn of events, the highly-motivated peaceful protesters were dispersed by the Nigerian Army, who allegedly rained bullets on the Nigeria flag-carrying protesters.
With several videos and claims of massacre flying around social media and new media outlets, the Lagos State Government set up a Judicial panel to investigate the incident and make their report public.
Although the Judicial reported that no lives were lost and the alleged news of a massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate was misinformation to churn the public, the report was received with controversy.
Amongst the critic of the report was a white paper committee set up by the Lagos Government, stating the report contained “fundamental inconsistencies,” adding that the panel’s findings were not supported by evidence.
However, in a recent development, a document was cited indicating that the Lagos State Government approved a mass burial of 103 #EndSARS dead victims.
The documents that have been making rounds on social media questioned the integrity of the Judicial panel as many believed the 103 dead victims of the #EndSARS protest were from the Lekki Toll Gate massacre.
In response to the documents, the Lagos State Government confirmed the approval for the mass burial of the dead #EndSARS victims but stressed that the corpses were not from Lekki Toll Gate.
Lagos State Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary, Dr Olusegun Ogboye confirmed this in a statement released on Sunday.
"The letter, dated July 19, 2023, originated from the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency and was addressed to the Ministry of Health, disclosing an approval of N61,285,000 for the mass burial," the statement partly reads.
In a follow-up statement issued by the Ministry of Health, titled "Re: Mass Burial Of Endsars Victims (Mischief Makers At Work)," seeking to counter misinformation circulating on social media". The government clarified that the victims to be buried were not recovered from the Lekki Tollgate.
"Instead, they were casualties from various areas affected by the #EndSARS violence, including Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo, and Ajah," the Ministry of Health reiterate.
The Lagos State Government stressed that the #EndSARS panel had already investigated the Lekki incident and the Lagos State Chief Pathologist had submitted records of unclaimed bodies from different incidents, including Lekki.
The panel's findings and the ensuing White Paper did not attribute any named citizen's death to the Lekki incident.
The planned mass burial came after a newspaper advertorial on November 18, 2020, in The PUNCH and November 19, 2020, in THISDAY, urging those who had lost loved ones or had missing relatives between October 19 and 27, 2020, to contact the department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for identification.
However, no one responded to claim any of the bodies. After nearly three years, the bodies remained unclaimed, leading to the decision to decongest the morgues in accordance with meticulous medical and legal guidelines, in case relatives come forward to claim the bodies years later.
