A human right organization, the Congress of Progressive Youth (CPY), has urged Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu to be cautious in the way he would handle the report submitted by the Panel of Enquiry set up to look into the sad occurrence of October 2020 when the youth hit the streets protesting the high handedness of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The protest, which started peacefully sadly became violent when hoodlums and street urchins were believed to have infiltrated the rank and file of the protesters thereby going out of hand the aftermath of which led to avoidable deaths and wanton destruction of government and people’s property.
The unfortunate incident got to a peak on October 20, at the Lekki Toll Gate axis of Lagos State where solders were alleged to have opened fire on the protesters killing some of the youth and wounding several others.
It was the aftermath of the alleged killing at the Lekki Toll Gate that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the state set up a Panel of Enquiry headed by the respected honourable Justice Doris Okuwobi with other eminent personalities as members to look into the issue and make recommendations towards forestalling future occurrences. The Panel, after its sitting, has submitted its report with recommendations to the governor to handle.
However, the discordant tunes that greeted the contents of the report across the globe made the group in a statement from its leader, Comrade Adebayo Oyenekan, to admonish the governor to be cautious in handling the report so as to avoid taking wrong actions, saying, going by the reactions that trail the report, tendency to be inaccurate cannot be ruled out.
The group quoted from an opinion article written by one Temitope Ajayi, entitled; “My Take On the leaked Lagos #EndSARS Panel Report,” where he declared that, the report was ambiguous in referring to what happened at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020 as ‘Massacre!’
Ajayi wrote: “By putting the word ‘massacre’ in quote, the panel has given the word an extensional meaning beyond its denotative meaning. The panel’s report is not a piece of literary work that should be suffused in figurative expressions. The panel’s job was intended to help the society know the truth and possibly find closure, not to create doubts and further ill-will.”
It is against this background of uncertainty about what really happened at the Lekki Toll Gate that the group urged caution, suspecting that, the end of the October, 2020 #EndSARS protest has not been heard and so, the governor should not be caught taking wrong steps that could necessitate setting up of another Panel of Enquiry to correct.
However, the organization commended the governor for setting the panel up and giving it free hand to operate because it was the right thing to do at that time, hailing him also for his non-interference in its operation which showed that he was not biased in the sad scenario on ground.
“Sanwo-Olu did exactly what he was supposed to do. The step taken at setting up the panel was right and timely. His non-interference in its operation was commendable,” the group declared, cautioning however that, “he must be vigilant in handling the report submitted by the panel so as to avoid tarnishing his trademark he is known for as an administrator that is always on top of his game.”
