Dissenters made up of four members of the Lagos State judicial panel of inquiry and restitution for victims of SARS related abuses and Lekki Toll Gate Incident have given reasons why the toll gate must not be reopened yet.
The dissenters, who include Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Patience Udoh, a lawyer and human rights activist, and the two representatives of the youth, Rinuola Oduola and Temitope Majekodunmi, argued that the toll gate should remain shut and under the purview of the panel until full investigations and hearings are concluded.
However, they were not allowed to present their dissent before they were shouted down at Saturday’s hearing and the panel led by Justice Doris Okuwobi gave owners of the Lekki toll gate plaza, Lekki Concession Company (LCC) the permission to repossess the plaza.
In a statement, two of the dissenters, Rinu Oduala and Temitope Majekodunmi, who are the youth reps at the panel, they argued that LCC failed to provide information, which may be useful for investigations.
The statement reads: “The Youth Reps at the Lagos judicial panel of inquiry and restitution for victims of SARS related abuses & Lekki Toll Gate Incident will like to formally express our dissent to the Order allowing for the repossession of Lekki Toll Gate.
“As indicated by the provisions of the Panel’s Rules 2020 – Rule 6(1&2), every member of the Panel has a legal duty to provide written contributions to any report to be issued in response to any application or matter brought before the Panel.
“We’d like to remind the public this panel was set up on our 5 For 5 demands during the nationwide protests against police brutality. So any decision without considering the opinions of the Youth Reps reflected in the rulings will be in violation of Rules setting up this Panel
“We have made efforts to communicate our position on the application by LCC to take repossession of the Lekki Toll Gate to the Chairlady as required by the Rules of the Panel but our dissent wasn’t reflected in the ruling.
“We note that one of the primary obligations of this Panel is to ensure impartiality throughout hearings for victims and contribute to fair, effective, efficient conduct of its hearings and more importantly, for voices of victims not be silenced in the course of this assignment.
“With respect to the issue, brought by LCC through its counsel – Mr. Demola Seriki, the LCC is requesting an order of this Panel to allow it take repossession of the Lekki Toll Gate.
“We must highlight clearly, what is of critical importance to ensure there is a full & thorough investigation into the Lekki Toll Gate incidence; ensure justice for all victims; & that any & every one found culpable is identified & recommended for appropriate action under the law.
“We understand from the Forensic Report submitted by the expert employed by the panel, LCC management has, despite requests, failed to provide information, which include access to servers; who ordered the extraction of CCTV footage; date & time of extraction of the footage from the CCTV; method used for the extraction as well as such other information which may be useful for purposes of the forensic examination & report.
“None of these have been provided by LCC and so it is impossible to conclude that investigations are over. It is therefore imperative that the Lekki Toll Gate management should not allowed to repossess the toll gate until full investigations are concluded.
“This is especially important as victims of the Lekki Toll Incident are yet to be heard and the public is still in the dark on the full details of the Incidence.
“Based on these fact, we are of the considered view that the Lekki Toll Gate remain shut and under the purview of the Panel until full investigations and hearings are concluded by this Panel.
“We do not have any intention to obstruct the rulings of the panel. We only want our dissent to be on record. We are committed to ensuring justice for victims”.