The governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has authorized the mass burial of at least 103 protestors who were slain by joint forces of the Nigerian Army and police during the #EndSARS major protest against police brutality in October 2020.
In a letter dated July 19, 2023, the Lagos State Government engaged the service of Messrs Tos Funeral Ltd, a private funeral home, to bury 103 bodies of victims of the EndSARS protest at a cost of N61,285,000.
“Following review of your request and based on the information provided therein, the agency has “No Objection” to the award of a contract to MESSRS TOS FUNERALS LIMITED at a total cost of N61,285,000 (Sixty-one million, two hundred and eighty-five thousand Naira only) for the mass burial for the 103 Endsars victims in 2020,” the letter read.
This plan comes nearly three years after Sanwo-Olu and his government outright denied the brutal killing of unarmed EndSARS protesters waving the Nigerian flag and chanting the national anthem at the Lekki toll gate on the night of October 20, 2020.
When Chief Press Secretary to Mr. Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Akosile, was asked about how this new move reflects on the past denials of the state government, he laughed and simply told The Gazette that “the government will release its response soon.”
The move also comes after a call for identification of missing persons by the Lagos State government was ignored due to several reports of intimidation and harassment, which were meted out to individuals who appeared before the panel of inquiry to make claims that indicted the government.
Despite the findings of Lagos State’s judicial panel of inquiry, which described the incident as a massacre, Sanwo-Olu issued a white paper to affirm his denial of the findings.
In its decision, the judicial panel ruled that nothing could justify the war-like brutality and violence unleashed on nonviolent protesters, which resulted in the deaths of dozens.
The judicial panel ruled that the casualties of the incident were exacerbated because the army refused to allow ambulances and medical assistance to reach injured protesters in need.
Further, it stated that the army seized the corpses of the demonstrators and washed blood stains off the scene to hide evidence of its crime and obstruct the inquiry of the panel.
Professor John Obafunwa, chief pathologist at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), testified before the panel of inquiry that at least 99 bodies from the EndSARS protests were deposited in morgues across Lagos, with several of them carrying bullet wounds, some blunt trauma, and some bruises. Three of the 99 bodies that were verified to be those of demonstrators were successfully traced back to the toll gate.
Sanwo-Olu has urged citizens to “snap out of the incident,” but families who lost loved ones in the massacre are struggling to find closure in the face of the government’s censorship of the facts.
