..accepts 11 recommendations out of 32, rejects 1, modifies 6

The Lagos State Government has released its White Paper on the report by the EndSARS panel that probed the Lekki toll gate incident of October 20, 2020.

The Babajide Sanwo-Olu government rejected the panel’s report that nine persons were killed at the toll gate when soldiers stormed the protest ground to disperse the young protesters.

In the 22 page White Paper released on Tuesday night, the government described the claim of the panel that nine persons were shot dead as “assumptions and speculations”.

In a short statement, Gboyega Akoshile, the Chief Press Secretary to Sanwo-Olu, said one of the recommendations of the panel was rejected.

In the statement titled, ‘Highlight of the Lagos Government White Paper On The Lekki Incident Investigation’, he said, “Out of the 32 Recommendations made by the JPI in its Report of 15th November 2021, Government accepted eleven, rejected one and accepted six with modifications.

“Fourteen recommendations fall outside the powers of the Lagos State Government and will be forwarded to the Federal Government for consideration. Let the healing begin.”

A leaked version of the panel report had indicted the Nigerian Army and the Lagos State Government in the killing of unarmed protesters and a subsequent cover-up of the incident at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.

But after the panel submitted its findings to Governor Sanwo-Olu, he set up a four-member committee led by the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), giving them two weeks to raise the White Paper on the reports submitted by the panel.