The United States (US) has reacted to the report submitted by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters bordering on police brutality.
Justice Doris Okuwobi( rtd)-led panel on Monday, submitted its report to the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture had consistently, after what many described as a massacre of unarmed Nigerian youths at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, insisted that no single life was lost.
The Minister went further to demand an apology from persons and organisation who lamented that many lives were lost during the shooting by men in Nigerian Army uniform.
The report of the probe panel however, revealed that not less than 11 lives were lost at the the #Lekkitollgate shooting.
One particular person, the DJ for the Lekki Toll Gate #EndSARS protest, DJ Switch insisted that lives were lost and several corpses seized by those who carried out the shooting.
She however, fled the country citing threats to her life because of her insistence.
The report added that not less than 43 youths were either shot dead, injured with bullets wounds or assaulted by soldiers.
In its reaction on Tuesday, the US Mission in Nigeria said it is waiting to see the response of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration and that of the Lagos State Government.
The US Embassy said that the response of the authorities would represent an important mechanism of accountability with regard to the #EndSARS protest and the events at the tollgate.
“Those events led to serious allegations against some members of the security forces.
“We look forward to the Lagos State and the Federal Governments taking suitable measures to address those alleged abuses as well as the grievances of the victims and their families.”
End SARS is a decentralised social movement, and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria.
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