• Victims’ families demand justice, reparations six years after Lekki shootings
•⁠ ⁠CAPPA seeks apology, prosecution of culpable officers, compensation for survivors

Participants at a #EndSARS memorial at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos were reportedly dispersed with teargas yesterday, disrupting a planned wreath-laying ceremony to honour victims of the October 20, 2020, protests, as families and survivors continued to demand justice six years after the incident.

Among those reportedly affected were Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in Lagos State, and Funso Doherty of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

Videos of the incident showed participants scrambling for safety as what appeared to be teargas spread across the area. The circumstances surrounding the reported deployment of teargas were not immediately clear.

The organisers had scheduled the ceremony for 11:00 a.m. to commemorate those killed, injured or reported missing during the protests. However, The Guardian learnt that police officers arrived at the venue as early as 9:15 a.m., when no organisers were visible. The smell of teargas was noticeable, although its source could not immediately be established.

The organisers planned to lay 15 wreaths: nine for people listed as dead in connection with the Lekki incident, four for those listed as missing and presumed dead, one for journalist Pelumi Onifade and another for other unidentified victims.

Those listed as dead were Victor Sunday Ibanga, Abuta Solomon, Jide, Olalekan Abideen Ashafa, Olamilekan Ajasa, Kolade Salami, Folorunsho Olabisi, Kenechukwu Ugoh and Nathaniel Solomon. The four listed as missing and presumed dead were Abiodun Adesanya, Ifeanyi Nicholas Eji, Tola and Wisdom.

The Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) condemned the reported use of teargas, describing it as part of a troubling pattern of restrictions on commemorative gatherings.

Its Executive Director, Okechukwu Nwanguma, questioned why authorities would use force against citizens gathered to honour victims of the 2020 protests, insisting that peaceful assemblies were constitutionally protected.

RULAAC said the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had not ended allegations of police brutality, torture, extortion, unlawful detention and extrajudicial killings. It urged the authorities to enforce the Police Act 2020 and the Anti-Torture Act 2017, investigate allegations of abuse and prosecute officers found culpable.

The organisation also called for stronger civilian oversight of the police and urged officers to facilitate peaceful gatherings, manage traffic and address specific offences rather than disperse participants indiscriminately.

The incident came as Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) renewed calls for justice, reparations and official acknowledgement of the violence that accompanied the #EndSARS protests.

Six years after the demonstrations, families who lost loved ones and survivors living with physical injuries and psychological trauma are still seeking answers, compensation and adequate support.

In a statement marking the anniversary, CAPPA’s Assistant Executive Director, Zikora Ibeh, urged the Federal and Lagos State governments to tender an unreserved public apology, prosecute officers found responsible for abuses and establish a comprehensive reparations programme for victims across the country.

She said an apology should go beyond words to include an acknowledgement of abuses, acceptance of responsibility and prosecution of those found culpable through due process.

One of the unresolved cases highlighted by CAPPA is that of Onifade, a 20-year-old journalist who was covering protest-related events at the Ministry of Agriculture’s Abattoir Complex in Oko-Oba, Agege, Lagos, on October 24, 2020.

According to accounts cited by the organisation, Onifade was attacked and arrested by personnel of the Lagos State Task Force. CAPPA also said he had filmed political figure Abiodun Bolarinwa firing live rounds at unarmed protesters in Abule-Egba on October 20, four days before his arrest. The allegations require assessment against available evidence and the findings of competent investigations.

CAPPA said an official post-mortem examination established that Onifade died from a gunshot wound to his lower torso. According to the organisation, the finding was documented in late 2020 but was not formally presented before the coroner’s court until 2026.

It called for the conclusion of criminal proceedings and the prosecution of any task force personnel or commanding officers found responsible for his death.

The #EndSARS movement began as a nationwide campaign against police brutality, particularly abuses associated with the now-disbanded SARS. Public anger intensified on October 3, 2020, after a viral video appeared to show SARS operatives shooting a young man outside Wetland Hotel in Ughelli, Delta State, before driving away in his car.

The footage fuelled demonstrations across the country, with protesters demanding an end to police brutality, accountability for abuses and respect for fundamental human rights.

The Lekki Toll Gate shootings became one of the most prominent and contested episodes of the security crackdown. CAPPA cited the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, which investigated the incident and other events surrounding the protests.

According to the organisation, the panel’s 309-page report described the incident as a “massacre in context” and implicated the Nigerian Army and police in deaths and serious injuries suffered by protesters.

CAPPA accused the Federal Government of rejecting the panel’s conclusions and said the Lagos State Government’s White Paper disputed aspects of its casualty records. It argued that the responses had failed to deliver the accountability demanded by victims and their families.

The organisation also cited a July 2024 judgment of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, which it said found Nigeria liable for violating protesters’ rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, as well as freedom from torture. According to CAPPA, the court ordered compensation for victims and fresh independent investigations.

It urged the Federal Government to implement the judgment fully and publish a transparent account of the measures taken to comply.

Beyond the Lekki incident, CAPPA said the protests had left lasting consequences for families, livelihoods and the emotional well-being of survivors. Its investigative publication, Lies and the Hail of Bullets: #EndSARS—The Story of Lekki Shootings by Survivors, documents accounts from people affected by the violence.

The organisation said prolonged official denials and alleged intimidation had left some participants disillusioned, with some reportedly forced into hiding or self-exile. It added that survivors continued to grapple with injuries and psychological trauma without adequate government support.

CAPPA warned that concerns about police brutality persisted, citing allegations of torture, extrajudicial killings, extortion and prolonged arbitrary detention at Tiger Base, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command in Owerri. It urged investigations into the allegations and appropriate legal action where evidence established wrongdoing.

It also pointed to the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests as evidence of continuing challenges facing Nigerians exercising their right to peaceful assembly. CAPPA alleged that security forces responded to the demonstrations with teargas, arbitrary arrests and lethal force, and said at least 24 deaths had been documented nationwide.

Ibeh warned that citizens were denied both the opportunity to live decently and the freedom to demand better when government policies deepened hardship and security forces attacked protesters.

She maintained that peaceful protest and free speech were essential democratic tools and that governments should not intimidate citizens into silence.

CAPPA cautioned that establishing state police would not, by itself, resolve the country’s policing crisis. It argued that decentralisation without effective oversight, regulation of the use of force and swift punishment for misconduct could create additional centres of coercive power at state level.

Instead, it called for reforms to make law enforcement accountable to the public and ensure that officers found to have abused their authority faced disciplinary and criminal consequences. Its proposals include mandatory body-worn cameras for frontline officers, secure storage of recordings, independent oversight and penalties for officers who deliberately deactivate cameras or tamper with footage.

To address the legacy of #EndSARS, CAPPA urged the Federal Government to establish a transparent national programme of acknowledgement, justice and reparations in collaboration with victims’ families, survivors, civil society groups, media-rights organisations and the National Human Rights Commission.

The programme, it said, should include payment of outstanding compensation, sustained medical and psychological support for survivors and prosecution of officers found culpable. It also called for the withdrawal of outstanding charges against people prosecuted solely for participating in peaceful protests, including the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations.

The organisation further urged the government to designate the Lekki Toll Gate as a national historic memorial site to preserve the memory of those affected by the crackdown.

Six years after the protests, CAPPA said the country must move beyond commemorations and official statements to deliver justice, reparations and meaningful police reform.

For families still seeking answers about their loved ones and survivors living with the consequences of the violence, it said, accountability remained an unfinished obligation of the Nigerian state.