The court found Nigeria in breach of Articles 1, 4, 6, 9, 10, and 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, specifically pertaining to the right to life, security of person, freedom of expression, assembly and association, prohibition of torture, the duty of the state to investigate, and the right to an effective remedy.

The court ordered payment of N2m as compensation for violations of their rights, adding that the security agents responsible for the offences should be prosecuted and report to the court within six months on the measures taken to implement this judgment.

The applicants, Obianuju Udeh, Perpetual Kamsi, and Dabiraoluwa Adeyinka alleged that these violations occurred during the peaceful protests at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos State on October 20 and 21, 2020.

The first applicant, Udeh alleged that the soldiers shot protesters, resulting in deaths and injuries, which she live-streamed, subsequently receiving threatening phone calls that forced her into hiding and eventual asylum.

The second applicant, responsible for protesters’ welfare, describes how soldiers began shooting after a power cut, leading to her hospitalisation due to police tear gas.

The third applicant claimed she narrowly escaped being shot, observed the refusal of ambulance entry by soldiers, and later witnessed inadequate hospital care for victims.

She argued that she and her colleagues took over the victims’ care and she faced ongoing threats and surveillance, believed to be by Respondent’s agents.

The Applicants alleged that during the peaceful protests against the SARS Unit of the Nigerian Police Force at Lekki Toll Gate, Lagos State, on October 20 and 21, 2020, the Respondent committed several human rights violations.

In an email sent to our correspondent from the court, Justice Koroma Sengu, said the court dismissed the allegation that the right to life as guaranteed under Article 4 of the ACPHR was violated.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso said on Monday that the planned mass burial had been suspended, following the controversy generated by the announcement in July.

In a leaked memo dated July 19, 2023, the state government had said it would conduct a mass burial for the 103 corpses

This had raised dust among human rights campaigners and civil society organizations.

A human rights organisation, Amnesty International, and a group under the aegis of the Coalition of #EndSARS Protesters and Supporters had demanded that the state government should suspend the planned mass burial.

In addition to the suspension demand, Amnesty International had asked the government to “also carry out transparent coroner inquest and autopsies on the 103 #EndSARS victims.”

In its reaction, the state government through the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Mr Gboyega Akosile, said that the government would “conform to global best practices” in carrying out the mass burial.

When asked for an update on the matter on Monday, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy said the planned mass burial “remains suspended to give people ample time to identify their relatives that may be among the corpses.”

“It is to allow more time for identification as suggested when it was disclosed that the government was planning a mass burial for them,” Omotoso said.

He stated further that “up till now, nobody has shown up to identify any of the corpses. But the government has decided to give people more time.”

He added that the planned burial would “be carried out soon, but because of the controversies around that time, it was suspended. People now have the time and ample opportunity to see if their relatives are there.”

The coalition said the state should conduct the DNA mapping before going ahead with its planned mass burial for the 103 corpses.

The coalition also said the government should compensate the families of the victims and “provide therapy for the trauma they have caused their families over the last three years.”

The state government had said in a leaked memo dated July 19 that it would conduct a mass burial for the 103 corpses.

A human rights organization, Amnesty International, had in a statement on Monday demanded that the Lagos State Government should suspend the planned burial until the identities of the corpses were determined.

The rights group further demanded that the government “must also carry out transparent coroner inquests and autopsies on the 103 #EndSARS victims.”

On Wednesday, the Coalition of #EndSARS Protesters and Supporters similarly demanded that the Lagos State Government should “suspend the planned mass burial of 103 bodies in TOS Funeral Services immediately; implement the recommendations of the judicial panel of inquiry’s White Paper; and establish a one-month notice for citizens to access the 103 bodies, in the hopes of identifying their loved ones.”

The group alleged that the government was trying “to manipulate public perception and evade justice and accountability.”

“The Coalition of #EndSARS Protesters and Supporters, national and globally, are horrified by the planned mass burial of 103 protesters and civilians who tragically lost their lives in the October 2020 state-sponsored violence and murder at the Lekki Tollgate, and the callous and insincere statement by the Lagos State Government in response to the leaked memo approving the contract for the mass burial.

“The Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led Lagos State Government continues to misinform the global community in an attempt to manipulate public perception and evade justice and accountability,” it alleged.

It condemned what it called “government’s attempt to downplay the magnitude of the casualties,” saying it is “a disservice to the memory of those who lost their lives and the pain endured by their families.”

But reacting to the demands to suspend the mass burial, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Akosile, said the government would “conform to global best practices” in carrying out the mass burial.

Akosile added that the government would handle the burial responsibly.

“The Lagos State Government has always been very responsible. There is nothing we do in Lagos State under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu that does not conform to best practices.

“You can be rest assured that when the burial will be done, it will be according to what is globally accepted.

“We conform to the laws of the land. There are laws guiding burial in Lagos State, and you can be rest assured that we’re going to satisfy the law of the land.

“It’s not because an agency, whether international or local, is saying that we should suspend the burial, it is because we ordinarily follow due process in the activities of governance in the state,” Akosile said.

The state government had on Sunday confirmed the authenticity of a leaked letter indicating planned mass burial for 103 corpses.

The letter, dated July 19, 2023, emanated from the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency and was addressed to the Lagos State Ministry of Health.

The letter, signed by the Director-General of the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Mr Onafowote Idowu, revealed the approval of the sum of N61,285,000 for the mass burial of 103 corpses.

But Ogunlana, who represented some #EndSARS protesters who claimed to have either been shot or witnessed soldiers shooting protesters at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020, expressed dismay at the sum budgeted to give mass burial to unclaimed bodies.

The activist-lawyer said, “My concern is not about the people that died but the fact that somebody is saying he wants to carry out a mass burial with N61m – the mass burial of unidentified bodies, of degraded bodies that died about two years ago, roughly about 20 or 19 months ago.

“You want to use N61m for mass burial! It should not even be up to N1m. Is it not just digging a big grave and putting the bodies there? That shows you the exploitation of the ruling class that we have, who are telling the people to bear the pain and to bear with the government.”

Ogunlana, however, said he would not dispute the explanation by the Lagos State Government that none of the 103 corpses was recovered from the Lekki tollgate.

“I am not going to lump it together, I will differentiate and say no we have been vindicated that people died at Lekki tollgate but not anything with 103, there was no evidence like that at the panel. But people died and there was a massacre even if it was only one person,” he said.

But in a swift reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Akosile, said the government ran a very efficient and effective financial structure and things followed due process.

Akosile said, “Lagos State is a very responsible government. We run a very efficient and effective financial structure. Everything passes through the procurement process. Things are based on market value. Does he (the lawyer) have a contractual agreement between the contractors and the Lagos government? Does he know the nitty-gritty? If you do not have the XYZ of a contract, you cannot determine if the money earmarked is too high or too low, otherwise, everything you’re saying will just amount to wanting to talk.

“He should stick to his representation in the #EndSARS and not bother dabbling into what he does not have knowledge about.”

LERSA made the call in a letter addressed to the governor on Thursday in which it condemned the recent killing of a lawyer, Mrs Omobolanle Raheem, and Mr Gafaru Buraimoh by officers attached to Ajah Police Station.

In the letter signed by its President, James Emadoye and General Secretary, Gbemi Adelekan, the body advised that on-duty police officers should not be allowed to consume, much less abuse alcoholic beverages and/or other proscribed drugs/substances.

It read, “One of the recommendations after the #EndSARS protest was the need to do psychological/psychiatric evaluation of police officers, most especially those handling firearms, to ensure that they are mentally capable of discharging their statutory duties effectively.

Another recurring recommendation is the need to ensure that on-duty police officers are not allowed to consume, much less abuse alcoholic beverages and/or other proscribed drugs/substances.

“There have also been suggestions that electronic surveillance equipment like close circuit cameras, dashboard cameras and indeed body-worn cameras be deployed to keep the personnel of the Nigeria Police under constant monitoring and by so doing, eliminate the seemingly intractable problems of extra-judicial killings.

“Mr Governor, we would be most grateful for your expeditious intervention with the Inspector General of Police, on this matter. We trust that your government with the Police hierarchy will put an immediate stop to these extrajudicial killings that are becoming a regular occurrence in our peaceful community of Eti-Osa.”

The protesters and civilians alike are currently fleeing the scene of the #EndSARSmemorial procession.

The memorial procession is to mark the second anniversary of the shooting that claimed many lives during the #EndSARS protest on October 20, 2022.

Recall that exactly two years ago the entire nation was thrown into lamentation following shootings in the Lekki Tollgate allegedly carried out by the Nigerian Army to stop the youths protesting against police brutality.

Several Nigerians, including Amnesty International, alleged that officers of the Nigerian Army shot at the protesters.

The youths returned at the same venue today, Thursday, in commemoration of the sad event

Oluomo also faulted the Presidential candidates of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and Labour Party, LP; Abubakar Atiku and Peter Obi respectively over the incident.

The transport boss noted that it was not possible that there would be killing of protesters and the corpses would not be revealed nor would the families of the deceased coming out to ask for their loved ones.

Oluomo stated this on Sunday during a “5 Million-Man Rally,” he organised  in Lagos to support the presidential  candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Oluomo said, “Where are the bodies and where are they buried? Do they have relatives in Nigeria? Has Nigeria bribed the mothers of the deceased protesters? Why are their siblings not searching for them, even on social media? Or is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a Chief of Army Staff or President who will order the killing of protesters at the (Lekki) Tollgate?”

“They’re lying to us, they want to undermine the Yorubas, everyone should come out. It is a political game. It was Atiku and Obi that conspired to do all those things then.”

Recall that in October 2020, thousands of youths trooped out to the streets in Nigeria and the diaspora, protesting extra-judicial killing by the police, particularly by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

Following the shooting at Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020, a Judicial Panel was set up by the state government to investigate petitions on police brutality in the state.

In the mass protest that began early October 2020, shortly after the Nigerian Labour Congress called off its scheduled nationwide protest, late September, thousands of youths, whose tension was already bottled up by various experiences of police brutalities cum the COVID-19 lockdown, and who could not control their erupting urge for resistance, took to the streets across various states in the country.

Fast forward to October 20, 2020, the protests had grounded Nigeria, gained international attention and supports until the shooting at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos, by the Nigerian military, began.

It was a silent night, as protesting Nigerian youths began to mourn their colleagues. Admittance and denials began from state authorities,  since then, the question: ‘Who ordered the shooting?’ is still being asked.

Few days after October 20, 2020, protesters’ arrests began even amid judicial panels set up across states to investigate cases of police brutality, before and during the #ENDSARS uprising.

On November 13, 2020, nine youths were arrested by the Oyo State Police Command over their involvement in the #ENDSARS protest, which the the state government claimed to have led to the killing of police personnel.

Adeshina Muyiwa, Ikechuckwu Eze, Ariyo Sodiq, Ikenna Amaechi, Oyewole Olumide, Ariyo Afeez, Taoreed Abiodun, Adekunle Moruf, Rasheed Tiamiyu, are currently being prosecuted by the state government.

They were charged with five counts bordering on murder, stealing of police rifles, and other ammunitions, and setting of police station ablaze.

The nine of them, whose case has suffered several adjournments since 2020, are languishing in Agodi prison, Ibadan, the state capital.

Arrested between October 23 and 25, 2020, Ismail Muftao, Sodiq Sulaimon, Yahaya Mustapha, and Faruq Abdulquadri are being charged with arson and robbery, and tried at the ENDSARS Court 2, Yaba Magistrate Court.

According to a civil society organisation, the Take It Back Movement, which is providing legal assistance to them, Muftau was arrested at his Ikorodu residence and was only taken to court three times (with the court not sitting) since detention at Kirikiri maximum prison. “His previous court appearance was December 17, 2020. He has only been to court once this year which is June 24, 2022,” a leader of the TIB, Banwo Olagookun told The PUNCH.

Sulaimon, who was arrested at his Ijora residence, according to the organisation, also last appeared in the court on June 24, 2022. According to the CSO, Jamiu Sani, Segun Adeniji, Ibrahim Adesanya, Daniel Joyibo, Dare Williams, Onuora Odih, Jeremiah Lucky, Gideon Ikwujoma, Haruna Adekunjo, Irinyemi Oluwanbe, Joshua Adeleke, Kabiru Ajetunmobi, Moses Ofoke, Quadri Azeez, Sodiq Riliwan, Olamide Lekan, Idris Lawus, Charles Adele have been transferred to Ikoyi prisons from Kirikiri maximum prisons.

Another individual, Sunday Okoro, was said to have been granted bail since 2021 but had yet to meet his stringent bail conditions. Okoro was said to have been hospitalised for over a month in the prison, and is still languishing in the Kirikiri maximum prison.

Police brutality has not left the Nigerian streets since the mass protests against the menace in 2020.
Numerous cases of assaults and extortions by the police had been recorded, with the police force dismissing those found wanting.

on Thursday, September 27, a viral video in which two policemen were seen assaulting the two brothers. One of the brothers, who filmed the assault, claimed that the policemen threatened to kill his brother over vehicle papers.

In the video, one of the brothers tackled the policeman, who physically assaulted him, while another officer warned the other one to stop recording the scene.

The man recording the video said the police were threatening to kill his brother because of vehicle particulars and driver’s licence, labeling them as thieves. The Bayelsa State Police Command has also commenced grilling of the two officers.

In November 2020, the Federal Government set up the panel following the #EndSARS Protest which was triggered by nationwide allegations of police brutality. In Abuja, the panel had on December 23, 2021, adjourned sitting and resumed on March 1, 2022.

However, the secretary of the Abuja Panel, Mr Hillary Ogbonna, expressed the feeling of the panel to newsmen on the failure of police to be present at the panel sitting on Thursday.

Ogbonna expressed surprise that none of the police officials needed was present at the panel in spite of the efforts by the panel to deliver its assigned tasks at a stipulated period.

According to him, if this non-punctuality attitude of the police becomes a pattern, it is capable of bringing setback to the mandate of the panel.

“The panel will continue to engage the police authority and other stakeholders to seek their cooperation to ensure that justice is done to the victims of police brutality. The records of the entire proceedings especially todays’ will be given to the police without any charge,” he said.

It was gathered that all the petitions called on Thursday, there was no police representation.

This claim, which was contained in a 41-page White Paper released by the state government on Tuesday night, countered the findings by the Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel that nine persons were killed by gunshots at the toll gate.

The JPI had recommended that a monument memorialising the lives lost and those injured should be erected at the Lekki toll.

Countering the recommendation, the state government said, “This recommendation is not acceptable to Lagos State Government for the following reasons: The finding of the JPI at page 288 paragraph M is that “The evidence of the pathologist Prof Obafunwa that only 3 of the bodies that they conducted post mortem examination on were from Lekki and only one had gunshot injury and this was not debunked.

“We deem it credible as the contrary was not presented before the panel.”. The JPI’s finding of nine deaths is therefore irreconcilable with the evidence of Prof. Obafunwa that only one person died of gunshot wounds at 7:43pm at LTG on October 21, 2020.

“Having held that there was no evidence before it to the contrary of what Prof Obafunwa said, the question is where did the JPI then get its finding of nine deaths? This finding of nine deaths at LTG on 20th October 2020 is even more baffling because apart from listing out their names in tabular form at pages 297-298, the JPI offered no explanation regarding the circumstances of their death.

“It is quite astonishing that in the list of eleven deaths set out at pages 297-298, two of the names appeared twice (Kolade Salami and Folorunsho Olabisi as Nos. 37 and 38).

“Furthermore, the person listed as No. 46 Nathaniel Solomon who testified as a witness and petitioned the JPI in respect of his brother who he alleged died at LTG was himself listed as having died at LTG on 20th October 2020. Remarkably, Nathaniel Solomon’s deceased brother (Abuta Solomon) was then also listed as No. 2 on the list of persons who died at LTG.

“The inconsistencies and contradictions in the entire JPI Report concerning the number of persons who died at LTG on 20 October 2020 and their cause of death rendered the JPI’s findings conclusions thereon as totally unreliable and therefore unacceptable,” the White Paper read in part.

The state government, however, said it would forward the recommendations made by the #EndSARS panel that disciplinary measures should be meted on military officers deployed to disperse protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, to the Federal Government, National Economic Council and the Nigerian Army.

Quoting the JPI’s report, it stated that the panel recommended 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.

The paper read, “The Lagos State Government notes and it will forward this recommendation to the Federal Government, National Economic Council and the Nigerian Army for their consideration.

“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.

“The Nigerian Army is an organisation that has its own disciplinary procedures and processes as set down by law, over which Lagos State government has no control. Nevertheless, Lagos State Government will forward this recommendation to appropriate authorities for their consideration and action.”

The Lagos State Government also commended all medical personnel and hospitals, including Reddington Hospital, which treated citizens who suffered injuries during the protest. However it disagreed that the hospitals treated victims of gunshot wounds from LTG on October 20, 2020.

The panel had described Lekki tollgate incident as a massacre in context, claiming that at least nine persons were killed by security agents when they stormed the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020, to disperse the defiant youths protesting against police brutality and extrajudicial killings.

The panel listed 48 names as casualties out of which 22 protesters sustained gunshot injuries, while 15 others were assaulted by soldiers and the police.

It listed the names of the deceased as Victor Sunday Ibanga, Abuta Solomon, Jide, Olalekan Abideen Ashafa, Olamilekan Ajasa, Kolade Salami, Folorunsho Olabisi, Kenechukwu Ugoh and Nathaniel Solomon. The report also listed Abiodun Adesanya, Ifeanyi Nicholas Eji, Tola and Wisdom as “presumed dead.”

It stated, “The atrocious maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters, while sitting on the floor and waving their Nigerian flags and while singing the National Anthem can be equated to a ‘massacre’ in context.”

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had received the report of the panel on November 15, 2021 and said the White Paper would be released in two weeks, which elapsed on November 29, 2021.

Summarily, out of the 32 recommendations made by the judicial panel of inquiry, the government accepted 11, rejected one and accepted six with modifications while 14 recommendations fall outside the powers of Lagos State Government and will be forwarded to the Federal Government for considerations