Mass burial for Lekki Tollgate #EndSars victims: Lagos govt states position

The Lagos State Government has given approval for a mass burial of 103 corpses recovered in the aftermath of the October 2020 #EndSARS protests, which called for the disbandment of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad. However, the government clarified that these bodies were not recovered from the Lekki tollgate.

The #EndSARS protests, which escalated into violence in various parts of Lagos, resulted in loss of lives, with the alleged killing of protesters at the Lekki Tollgate by soldiers on the night of October 20, 2020, being a significant incident. In response to these events, the Lagos State Government established a commission of inquiry to investigate the allegations.

The decision for a mass burial was confirmed in a leaked letter dated July 19, 2023, from the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency addressed to the Ministry of Health. The letter approved the sum of N61,285,000 for the mass burial, and it was intended for the victims of the #EndSARS crisis from various areas of the state, excluding the Lekki Tollgate.

In response to the leaked letter, the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, issued a statement dismissing any connection between the corpses for mass burial and the Lekki Tollgate incident. He clarified that the casualties in question were from different areas, including Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo, and Ajah. The bodies were picked up by the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit after the #EndSARS violence and community clashes in those locations.

Ogboye further explained that the mass burial plan was initiated after the bodies remained unclaimed for almost three years, leading to congestion in the morgues. The government issued newspaper advertorials in November 2020, urging those who had lost loved ones or had relatives declared missing between October 19 and 27, 2020, to contact the Department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for identification. However, no one came forward to claim the bodies.

The planned mass burial followed careful medical and legal guidelines, with the government expressing that the bodies were unrelated to the Lekki Tollgate incident as testified before the #EndSARS panel. The move was aimed at addressing the congestion in the morgues and ensuring proper handling of the unclaimed bodies.

The Perm Sec, Ministry of Health, Ogboye said, “The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to some social media publications about a purported mass burial plan for casualties of the 2020 #EndSARS incident. Peddlers of the news are deliberately misinterpreting and sensationalising a letter from the Lagos State Government Public Procurement Agency titled: Letter of No Objection – Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 ENDSARS victims, to misinform the public, stir public sentiment and cause public disaffection against the Lagos State Government.

“It is public knowledge that the year 2020 #EndSARS crisis that snowballed into violence in many parts of Lagos recorded casualties in different areas of the state and not from the Lekki Tollgate as being inferred in the mischievous publications.

“For the records, the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit picked up bodies in the aftermath of #EndSARS violence and community clashes at Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo and Ajah areas of Lagos State.

“There was also a jailbreak at Ikoyi Prison. The 103 casualties mentioned in the document were from these incidents and not from Lekki Tollgate as alleged. For the avoidance of doubt, no body was retrieved from the Lekki Tollgate incident.”

He said contrary to the narrative weaved around the recently approved mass burial, the #EndSARS panel subpoenaed the Lagos State Chief Pathologist to produce full records of unclaimed bodies of dead deposited with the state central morgue during the days immediately preceding and following the event at Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

“The list with their autopsies of provable cause and circumstances of death was duly submitted and testified to before the panel. This subpoena was at the request of lawyers who represented #EndSARS protesters and the chief pathologist complied. There was not a single finding in the report or ensuing White Paper attributing the death of any named citizen listed in the autopsy to the Lekki incident,” the government said.

Ogboye said the planned mass burial followed a newspaper advertorial of November 18, 2020, in The PUNCH and November 19, 2020, in THISDAY for those “who had lost loved ones or whose relatives had been declared missing between October 19 and 27, 2020 from various clashes as mentioned above, to contact the department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital to help with identification of these casualties deposited in state-owned morgues.”

“It is important to state categorically that nobody responded to claim any of the bodies.

“However, after almost three years, the bodies remain unclaimed, adding to the congestion of the morgues. This spurred the need to decongest the morgues – a procedure that follows very careful medical and legal guidelines in the event that a relative may still turn up to claim a lost relative years after the incident.”