Popular human rights activist and lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) on Thursday said a report by the United States of America (U.S.A) on Lekki Toll Plaza killings is contradictory and misleading.
He also said the report was prejudicial in view of the current sitting of the panel of enquiry set up by the Lagos State government into the matter.
The lawyer urged the panel members to ignore it.
In a statement in Lagos, Falana said the report attempted to cover up the killings at Lekki and other parts of the state from October 20 to 27, 2020.
He said: “On the one hand, the report claimed that the members of the security forces were enforcing curfew by firing into the air to disperse protesters at the toll plaza. On the other hand, the report states that some protesters had turned violent after criminal elements infiltrated them and so the security forces fired protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate.”
The lawyer noted that the report did not mention the detachment of soldiers, who he said allegedly caused the mayhem.
“Do soldiers shoot into the air to enforce curfew in the United States? How can the United States Government be allowed to treat the proceedings before a properly constituted Judicial Panel of Enquiry so contemptuously?” he asked.
Falana added: “The report is prejudicial in every material particular. It should be ignored by the Judicial Panel as it is designed to preempt the evidence being adduced by the survivors of the barbaric attack.”
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TheNewsGuru.com, TNG reports that the United States Government had in its report on Wednesday said that information on the number of fatalities recorded during the #ENDSARS protests in Lekki Tollgate last year, is not available.
According to the US Department of State’s 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, “Accurate information on fatalities resulting from the shooting was not available at year’s end”.