#EndSARS: Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry makes 32 recommendations, asks other victims to channel petition through justice ministry
The Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by the Lagos State government to hear cases of Police brutality released its report on Monday, November 16, 2021.
In the report, the panel confirmed that there was a massacre at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020. The report listed all the names of the casualties and made 32 recommendations.
In its recommendations, the panel asked petitioners whose cases could not be heard ‘due to time constraints’ to channel their petitions through the Ministry of Justice to the Standing Human Rights Committee or Tribunal.
With this recommendation, there appears to be hope of justice for the family of Pelumi Onifade, the 20-year-old journalist shot by the Nigerian Police during the End SARS protests. The family’s petition was not treated by the panel.
Here are the 32 Recommendations of the JPI:
1. The Panel having found that the entire Police Force, as first responders, did not have adequate facilities, manpower, experience and training to prepare them for such civil and orderly protest as happened at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020 recommends as follows;
a. that the Police should be adequately funded,
b. that the police should be effectively trained
c. the provision of requisite accoutrements and equipment
d. the recommendation of a better and more harmonized communication system with all security apparatus of the state.
e. The welfare of police officers particularly as it relates to improved salary, well equipped offices, provision of decent accommodation and transportation.
2. The Panel recommends disciplinary actions to the following officers ( Lt. Col S.O. Bello and Major General Godwin Umelo), who refused to honor the summons of the panel in order to frustrate the investigation.
3. All officers (excluding Major General Omata) and men of the Nigerian Army that were deployed to the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020 should be made to face appropriate disciplinary action, stripped of their status, and dismissed as they are not fit and proper to serve in any public or security service of the nation.
4. The Panel recommends that all those arrested in the course of the protest should be granted bail, prosecuted for any offence that may be alleged against them or where no prima facie evidence of culpability is disclosed upon due investigation, they should be released forthwith.
5. The panel recommends that the Nigeria Army be discouraged in intervening in internal security.
6. The Panel having found that the use of social media played significant roles in escalating the crises and appeals for restraint in spreading unverified pieces of information to the general public.
7. Panel commends Reddington Hospital, Vedic Life Healthcare, Grandville Trauma Centre, Victoria Island Consultancy, General Hospital Marina, and medical Services Hospitals, LASUTH, Doreen Hospital, Saint Nicholas Hospital Lagos Island, Avon Medical Practice Clinic, Britannia Hospital Lekki, First City Diagnosis Limited, Lekki, Budo Specialist Hospital Lekki, Saint Edward Specialist Hospital and Cardiac Centre Lekki, Lagos Executive Cardiovascular Clinic Lekki, Olive Multi-Specialist Hospital Lekki, Preston Hospital Lekki, Lagoon Hospital Ikoyi and all the medical doctors and personnel that attended to the victims of gunshot wounds from the Lekki Toll Gate and treated all of them free of charge. Panel recommends them for special awards by the Lagos State and Federal Governments.
8. The Panel recommends that the commitment made to the hospitals by the Lagos State Government through the Governor and the Commissioner for Health for the payment of the hospital bills of the EndSARS protesters should be fulfilled.
9. The DPO of Maroko Police Station along with policemen deployed from Maroko Police Station on the 20th and 21st of October 2020 should be prosecuted for arbitrary and indiscriminate shooting and killing of protesters.
10. Panel recommends that Grievance Address mechanism should be improved upon to engender speedy attention and action.
11. Government should engage regularly with youths and be proactive and responsive when tense situations arise.
12. Panel recommends that Curfew regulations should be widely publicized
13. Panel recommends reorientation and training of police and security personnel or handling of crime scenes.
14. Panel recommends that Coroner inquests and autopsies should be done in cases of suspicious death within a maximum of one month of occurrence of the incident.
15. Panel recommends that there should be guidelines & standard procedures for mortuaries on information to be requested and documentation done in cases of bodies brought to them
16. Panel recommends Training of health officials particularly LASEHMU
17. Panel Recommends Training and retraining of all Security officials – including Civil defense, Police and the Army on rules of engagement and management
of protest.
18.The situation of the integrity of the scene of incident must be preserved and items of physical evidence should not be removed between the time-lapse from the incident and scene examination in any other situation.
19. The Panel recommends that the Lekki Toll Plaza be made a memorial site for ENDSARS Protest: By renaming to “ENDSARS TOLLGATE”
20.The panel recommends that October 20th of every year, the day is made a “Toll Free Day” at the Lekki Toll Gate as long as the tollgate exists
21. That Oct 20th of every year be made EndSARS day Nationally for the remembrance of our falling youth.
22.That for the purpose of restitution, healing and reconciliation the federal Government needs to publicly apologize to the youth for abruptly
undermining the protest with their state actors.
23.The Government should do all it can to bridge the gap of distrust with the Youth.
24.A monument memorializing the lives lost and those injured at the Lekki Toll Gate with the names inscribed on the Monument.
25.Recommends the establishment of a standing committee to bridge the gap between the society and the police via information gathering, community engagement, youth sensitization, prompt intervention on issues that require intelligence-led policing and community policing principles for the review and action of the State Commissioner of Police. (Action: NEC, Timeline: 18 Months)
26.It is recommended that the scrutiny of all disciplinary processes of the Nigerian Army and the police be made transparent and outcomes made public periodically. The dark days of military rule is over and more democratic principles and approaches are required to win both the peace and public trust. (Action: NEC, Timeline: 6 Months)
27.The Panel recommends that the Complaint Response Unit of the Police at the FHQ must be reinforced to scale up its national responsibilities in prompt engagement and treating public complaint against erring officers across the country to avoid conflagration. It is recommended that the unit, given its influence and prompt engagement will be more effective reporting directly to
the IGP. (Action: NEC, Timeline: 2 Months)
28.It is recommended that any data that may have been generated over the years on the impunity of the Police across Nigeria be studied and deployed as early warning signs (EWS) mechanism. (Action: NEC, Timeline: 3 Months)
29.It is recommended that compensation to the victims in cases emanating from the Lekki Incident of 20th October 2020 be facilitated and promptly disbursed to ensure Justice is served and seen to be served for accelerated healing to win the peace and build public trust. (Action: NEC, Timeline: 1 Month)
30.Panel recommends a special trust fund for compensation of Victims of the Lekki Toll Gate Incident of October 20, 2020 and other established and proven human rights abuses.
31.In view of the volume of complaints against the Nigeria Police received by the Panel, it is recommended that the Lagos State Assembly should set up a standing Human Rights Committee or Tribunal made up of representatives of the Nigeria Police, Ministry of Justice, National Human Rights Commission, Office of the Public Defender, Legal Aid Council, CSOs and other relevant
stakeholders with mandate to receive and make determinations in respect of complaints made against the Nigerian Police and other security agencies.
32. Panel recommends that all petitions filed before the panel but that could not be heard due to time constraints should be channeled through the Ministry of Justice to the Standing Human Rights Committee or Tribunal.
