Minister of information and culture Lai Mohammed has rubbished the leaked report of the Lagos State judicial panel of inquiry on #EndSARS and cases of police brutality.
The panel had in its leaked report indicted the army and police, saying they shot at #EndSARS protesters at Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020 and killed several persons in the process.
However, the minister, while speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, described the allegations as “tales by moonlight.”
Mohammed said the Federal Government had read the report and was well placed to respond.
“Without mincing words, let me say that never in the history of any judicial panel in this country has its report been riddled with so many errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, speculations, innuendoes, omissions and conclusions that are not supported by evidence,” he said.
“What is circulating in public space is simply a rehash of the unverified fake news that has been playing on social media since the incident of Oct.20th 2020.
“It is simply incredible that a judicial panel set up to investigate an incident has submitted a report laden with allegations, the same allegations it was set up to investigate in the first instance. Instead of sitting for all of one year, the panel could have just compiled social media ‘tales by the moonlight’ on the incident and submitted, saving taxpayers’ funds and everyone’s time.”
Mohammed highlighted some errors in the report, saying “The report threw away the testimony of ballistic experts who testified before it.
“The experts said, inter alia, in their testimony: ‘The Team, finds that from the medical data examined, including the timeline of arrival at medical facility and the nature of the injuries sustained by the victims, who were taken to medical facilities.”
