SocialMediaTrends: #EndSARS White Paper – Nigerians react as govt says no massacre at Lekki toll gate

The social media space Wednesday was enmeshed with varied reactions to the release of the much-awaited White Paper on the report of the #EndSARS Judicial Panel of Inquiry (JPI) by the Lagos State government on Tuesday night.

According to the White Paper, of the 32 recommendations made by the panel on the Lekki Toll Gate shooting, the state government accepted only 11, rejecting one; agreeing to six, although with modifications; and referring 14 which fell outside the powers of the state to the Federal Government.

The White Paper also rejected the JPI’s report that nine people died at the Lekki Toll Gate.

The state government described the claims as baffling, noting that apart from listing out their names in tabular form on pages 297-298, the JPI offered no explanation regarding the circumstances of their death.

Importantly, the White Paper denounced the Panel’s report of a ‘Massacre’ at the Lekki Toll Gate and held that only one person had died of gunshot wounds on 20th of October 2020.

It added that the JPI’s report was riddled with “fundamental” inconsistencies, thereby rendering its findings unreliable and unacceptable.

Meanwhile, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) who served in the panel has in response to the government’s White Paper, assured that members of the Panel will study the document and make appropriate responses thereto.

He wrote on social media: “At the appropriate time, we would respond to all the inaccuracies, the cover ups and the inconsistencies contained in the White Paper released by the government.

“Assuredly, nothing can ever cover the truth. What happened at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 2020 was already in the public domain. Those who recieved the bullets knew what happened and the doctors that treated them knew what happened. The Panel reports only confirmed what most Nigerians already knew.”

His response comes amidst backlash from some Nigerians who have faulted the panel for not doing a thorough work with the report.

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…By Okiemute Abraham and Ijeoma Ilekanachi

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