CSOs, Adediran oppose mass burial for 103 victims of #EndSARS protest

Say plan vindication of panel’s report on Lekki massacre

Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections, Dr. Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, also known as Jandor, yesterday, described the plan of the state government to conduct mass burial for 103 victims of 2020 #EndSARS protest as a vindication of panel’s report on Lekki tollgate massacre.

Adediran, in a statement, signed by his Head, Media and Communications, Gbenga Ogunleye, said the plan was an establishment of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s culpability of mass murder.

He expressed shock over the plan of the state government to organise a mass burial for the victims recorded from the wanton killing of citizens, mostly youths across the state, by men of the Nigerian Army invited by Sanwo-Olu to suppress the protest.

According to him, the burial plan is an admittance on the part of the state government that a massacre took place, despite denial from the authorities for three years.

He condemned the callous and inhuman treatment of innocent citizens and the desecration of their memory by the brazen-faced denial of their needless and avoidable murder.

He said Sanwo-Olu should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

SIMILARLY, members of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have warned Lagos State government against carrying out mass burial for the 103 victims of #EndSARS protest.

They threatened to institute a legal action at the International Criminal Court (ICC), which may warrant exhuming the bodies for forensic analysis if the state failed to heed their advice.

The CSOs, while reacting to a statement signed by the state’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, that the state would carry out mass burial for 103 bodies, accused Lagos State government of insincerity about the killings during the #EndSARS protest in the state. They alleged that the state at the initial stage said no member of the public was killed except policemen that were killed in their barracks.

Spokesperson of Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Mark Adebayo, who spoke on behalf of the CSOs, wondered at what time did the state government realise that 103 people were killed in the protest.

He also queried when the state government announced to the public to check their people missing during the period of #EndSARS at any designated morgue, warning that until when the families of the deceased were given the opportunity to identify their deceased persons, the state government should not proceed with the burial.

The CSOs urged President Bola Tinubu to reopen investigation on the killings that took place during the protest. They said the President must also have an interest in getting to the root of the number of people killed in the protest because in a way, he also was a victim business wise.

“How do I mean, apart from the fact that his business premises were burnt, the fact that he also was subjected to investigation by the federal government, he said people went to meet with President Buhari then, that he sponsored #EndSARS protest. Now he is the president of Nigeria he needs to show personal interest in this matter by re opening #EndSARS issue.