The Lagos state government has ordered the mass burial of 103 people who died in violence linked to protests against police brutality in October 2020.
The government said on Sunday that the bodies were not claimed by relatives and it took the decision to decongest morgues.
Two weeks of the popular #EndSARS protests in Lagos, Abuja, and other towns ended with several deaths reported after a clampdown by the federal government.
The Lagos authorities denied that any of the bodies were connected to an incident at the Lekki Toll Gate, where soldiers on Oct. 20, 2020 forcefully dispersed protesters.
– Not Lekki
Amnesty International said at least 12 people were killed when troops fired on crowds and reporting by Premium Times, CNN and other news outlets showed people were killed and their bodies taken away.
The Nigerian government continues to deny state agents killed protesters at the Lekki site.
The Lagos government denied that a letter showing that it had hired a private company to conduct a mass burial for over N60 million confirms the Lekki killings. The state government called the claims “mischievous”.
It claimed the bodies were of those killed by violence perpetrated by protesters in various parts of the commercial capital.
“It is public knowledge that the year 2020 #EndSARS crisis 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 inferred in the mischievous publications,” the statement by Olusegun Ogboye, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health said.
“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, including 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, nobody was retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate incident.”
The explanation has not convinced Nigerians.
“The killing of the 103 EndSARS protesters in Lagos is one of the hidden atrocities of the Buhari era,” said Shehu Sani, activist and former senator.
“The spirits of those murdered whether for ‘blocking’ the road in Zaria or ‘blocking’ the Lekki gate will continue to haunt this country and hang over its skies until justice is done,” he tweeted, referring to the 2015 massacre of hundreds of Shia Muslims for reportedly blocking the convoy of the country’s then army chief, Tukur Buratai.
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