Lagos judicial panel proposes renaming of Lekki Toll Plaza to #EndSARS Tollgate

The Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Monday submitted its reports on the cases of killing and assault by security personnel during October 2020 #EndSARS protest.

The report contained a list of recommendations for implementation to the Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Some of the recommendations by the panel include the designation of the Lekki Toll Plaza where young Nigerians were killed while waving the Nigerian flag and national anthem as a memorial site for the #EndSARS protest and renaming the plaza as #EndSARS Tollgate.

“The Panel recommends that the Lekki Toll Plaza be made a memorial site for ENDSARS Protest: By renaming to ‘ENDSARS TOLLGATE’” the report said.

“The panel recommends that October 20th of every year, the day is made a ‘Toll Free Day’ at the Lekki Toll Gate as long as the tollgate exists.”

In the report submitted to Sanwo-Olu, the panel found that officers of the Nigeria Police Force who were deployed to the toll gate on the night of the incident “shot at, assaulted and battered unarmed protesters, which led to injuries and deaths” which it said culminated into a massacre on unarmed civilians.

The Nigerian government, Lagos State government, Nigeria Army, and police had denied that a massacre was committed by the Nigeria security agents on the night of October 20 2020 at the Lekki Toll Plaza.

Since the killing and search for many protesters who are still missing, eyewitnesses, family members and relatives of the victims have recounted the arrowing experience of the day.

While the government still denies that anyone was killed during the #EndSARS protest, the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry said that honouring the #EndSARS protest victims can bring healing to their wounds.

“That for the purpose of restitution, healing, and reconciliation, the federal government needs to publicly apologize to the youth for abruptly undermining the protest with their state actors,” the report said.

“The government should do all it can to bridge the gap of distrust with the Youth.

“A monument memorializing the lives lost and those injured at the Lekki Toll Gate with the names inscribed on the Monument.”

The panel also recommended the prosecution and dismissal of security operatives who ‘massacred’ armless protesters at the Lekki Toll Plaza.