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The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo, has refuted some claims made by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, and his Labour and Employment counterpart, Festus Keyamo, regarding the judicial panel constituted by the state to investigate the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
Mohammed had dismissed the report which indicted the Nigerian army and Lagos government as one riddled with “errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, speculations, innuendoes, omissions and conclusions that are not supported by evidence”.
The information minister had claimed that members of the panel concentrated on the protesters and allegedly failed to mention cases of police personnel who were “brutally murdered” during the protest, saying “Does this mean that the panel didn’t consider policemen and women as human beings?”
But Onigbanjo exonerated the panel in that regard when he appeared on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Wednesday to speak on the white paper released by the state government on the #EndSARS report. The state government had described the panel’s findings as “totally unreliable” and “unacceptable” in the white paper.
The attorney-general said that the panel submitted a two-part report to the Lagos Government, noting that the part which leaked to the media “dealt with the issues from the Lekki Toll Gate”.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said the other part of the report contains cases of EndSARS-related violence in other parts of the state, including petitions submitted by police officers and their families.
“On the issue of the allegation that the panel made no reference to the policeman or didn’t take them into consideration. To their credit, they did,” said Onigbanjo.
“They issued two reports. The report which leaked only dealt with the issues from the Lekki toll gate, there’s another report which they issued which was not leaked. That report deals with all the #EndSARS petitions, about 253 in number. Out of that 253, policemen also brought their own petitions. And in that report, they (the panel) awarded the sum of maybe N36.2 million to policemen who were affected one way or the other by the protests.
“So, to be fair to them. They did consider the plight of policemen too. And look at most of their recommendations…. for better welfare for the police, better equipment, more training, psychological evaluation, so they took them into consideration. Most certainly they did.”
The Lagos Attorney-General further deflated the claim by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Keyamo, who had faulted the constitutionality of the judicial panel.
Keyamo had claimed that state governments have no powers whatsoever to inquire into affairs affecting the Nigerian army or the police or any federal institution.
Onigbanjo, however, said: “…as to the legality of the panel, I do not agree with him (Keyamo) with all due respect, because firstly, it was the National Economic Council that directed states to go and set up the judicial panels of inquiry.
“Under the law, the tribunal of inquiry law of Lagos state, the state government is vested with the power to set up an inquiry into anything of public concern in the state.
“Now, what are we talking about here? Largely abuse of human rights. As far as I know, abuse of human rights is a matter on the residual list, which means it’s only the states that can handle such matters, and in fact, there are a couple of Supreme Court cases which say categorically that the federal government cannot set up tribunals of inquiry for the Federation. So, on so many fronts, that statement by the Honorable Minister, Mr. keyamo, is incorrect, that’s not the position of the law.”
