Lagos Counsel says there are over 40 discrepancies in #EndSARS panel report

The panel submitted its report on police brutality and Lekki shooting in October 2020 to the Lagos State Government on Monday, November 15, 2021.

The panel presented its report over a year after it was set up by the state government following the alleged killing of #EndSARS protesters in Lekki.

In the report, the panel said at least 48 protesters were either killed, injured, or assaulted by security operatives.

The panel also said the “killing of unarmed protesters by soldiers” could be described in the context of a “massacre”.

But Owonikoko, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who represented the state government during the sitting of the EndSARS judicial panel said the report was riddled with discrepancies.

During an interview with Arise TV, Owonikoko said there are over 40 discrepancies in the report submitted to the state government.

The lawyer added that important details were omitted by the panel.

“By law, the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the panel were not supposed to be made public. The report making rounds on social media is a draft of a minority opinion because I was there all through the proceedings”. he said.

“I am particularly shocked to read what is contained in the report because it is not completely accurate. I sighted over 40 discrepancies in this report, including awarding N15 million to someone who was a witness to a police brutality incident that had nothing to do with the Lekki incident. What kind of report is that?

“All the evidence we were able to gather during the proceedings, none of them could be fully established.

“The mistake made by the government was not setting up an entirely different panel to look into the Lekki incident because there are some members of the panel that are protagonists in the case against the Police. They were not supposed to be a part of it.”

Majekodunmi in a statement on Wednesday, said the errors were corrected before final submission.

He, however, added that the leaked report is not far from the original one.