•No Lekki Toll Gate casualties, govt clarifies
By Chinelo Obogo and Lukman Olabiyi
Lagos State government has approved N61, 285,000 million for mass burial of 103 victims of EndSARS protest in 2020 in the state.
This was contained in a letter titled ‘Letter of No Objection. Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 ENDSARS Victims’, dated July 19, with reference number LA/PPA/NO ONJ/VOL22/213, addressed to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Alausa, Ikeja and signed by the Director General of the Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Mr. Onafowote Fatai Idowu.
In the Certified True Copy report of the Lekki incident investigation of October 20, 2020 by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters seen by the Daily Sun, the panel revealed that several unidentified bodies were removed by security agencies and the Lagos State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (LASEHMU) and deposited at various hospital mortuaries in Lagos State.The panel also said it found the cases of death or injured protesters credible and asked that the families of the victims be compensated and their bodies released. It is unclear if the directive to release the victims’ bodies to their families have been carried out.
Though there has been no official statement from the government affirming the death of victims of the EndSARS protest, the letter signed by Mr. Idowu confirms that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu signed off on the contract to give the victims a mass burial
The government awarded the contract for the burial to TOS Funerals Limited.
The government, however, debunked trending story that the mass burial was for those allegedly killed by soldiers at the Lekki Toll Gate.
A statement by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, said it was public knowledge that the EndSARS crisis in 2020 that snowballed into violence in many parts of Lagos recorded casualties in different areas of the state and not from the Lekki Toll Gate as being wrongly inferred from the memo by the state government.
“For the records, the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit (SEHMU) picked up bodies in the aftermath of #EndSARS violence and community clashes at Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo and Ajah areas of Lagos State. There was also a jailbreak at Ikoyi Prison. The 103 casualties mentioned in the document were from these incidents and not from Lekki Toll-gate as being alleged.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no body was retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate incident. Contrary to disingenuous narrative weaved around the recently approved mass burial, the #EndSARs panel subpoenaed the Lagos State chief pathologist to produce full records of unclaimed bodies of dead deposited with state central morgue during the days immediately preceding and following the event at Lekki tollgate on 20/10/20 . The list with their autopsies of provable cause and circumstances of death were duly submitted and testified to before the panel. This subpoena was at the request of lawyers who represented #EndSARS protesters and the chief pathologist complied.There was not a single finding in the report or ensuing white paper attributing the death of any named citizen listed in the autopsy to the Lekki incident.”
The state government said tn the aftermath of the #EndSARS violence, the office of the Chief Coroner invited members of the public through public adverts and announcement urged those who lost love ones or relatives between October 19 and 27 October 2020 from various clashes as mentioned above, to contact the department of Pathology and Forensic Medicine of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to help with identification of these casualties deposited in state-owned morgues.
“Relatives were to undergo DNA tests for identification purposes. It is important to state categorically that nobody responded to claim any of the bodies. However, after almost three years, the bodies remain unclaimed, adding to the congestion of the morgues. This spurred the need to decongest the morgues – a procedure that follows very careful medical and legal guidelines in the event that a relative may still turn up to claim a lost relative years after the incident.”
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“We refer to your letter dated 13 July, 2023 with Ref No: LSMH/G/NS/013-1/23 in respect of the above subject matter. Following our review of your letter and the documents attached, we note the following; Mr. Governor’s approval, minutes of ministerial tenders’ board meeting, procurement planning committee and sign-off.
“Following review of your request and based on the information provided therein, the Agency has “No Objection” to the award of contract To Messrs. TOS Funerals Limited at a total cost of N61,285,000.00 (Sixty-One Million, Two Hundred and Eighty-Five Thousand Naira) only for the mass burial for the 103, the year 2020 Endsars victims
“In view of the above, please note that you should ensure a quadruplicate copy of the letter of award for Messes. TOS Funerals Limited, registered with the PPA within 72 hours, ensure the submission of certificate of suppliers registration with PPA in appropriate class, ensure all statutory taxes and deductions are remitted by the supplier and the letter of award is to be accompanied with a copy of this letter of “No Objection, Certificate of Registration / Renewal with PPA and receipt of payment of Admin fees (0.25%) to be paid before release of fund.
“Refer to Head of Service circular with Reference No. CIR/H05/20/Vol 1/051 dated May, 2020, it is mandated that the 0.25% admin fee is paid to PPA and 0.5% agreement fee is paid to Ministry of Justice. Service providers should indicate in writing where there is the need for STO/MDA Finance and Accounts to deduct at source or payment directly by the service providers before the release of funds.
“Pursuant to Sections 18 (1) (b) and 18(1) (k) of the Lagos State Public Procurement Law 2021), your office is required to keep proper records of this project which shall be subject to procurement audit by the agency after. Please be guided accordingly,” the letter read.