#OccupyLekki: Governor Sanwo-Olu never directed any police officer to brutalise protester says commissioner

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has vowed to ensure that police officers who allegedly brutalised #OccupyLekkiTollgate protesters on Saturday are brought to book.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, stated this at a media briefing organised by the Lekki Concession Company.

The commissioner explained that Sanwo-Olu never directed the police to assault anyone, adding that the governor would not stand by and watch Lagosians being brutalised.

Omotoso said, “The governor is very unhappy with what happened on Saturday, that people were brutalized, and he has directed Police Commissioner Hakeem Odumosu to investigate the matter. Whoever is found culpable, I assure you, will not go without punishment. This is because Mr. Sanwo-Olu has said it loud and clear that he is not somebody who will abuse the rights of others.

“That’s why when the whole thing started, you will recall, he joined the protests twice. He waved the flag, he carried the placard and he took the position of the protesters to the President. Besides that, he addressed them. So, he is not going to be the one who will stand by and watch Lagosians being brutalised.”

There was widespread anger on Saturday following the arrest of 40 persons who protested peacefully against the reopening of the Lekki Tollgate Plaza in Lagos State.

The peaceful protesters were arrested on Saturday and locked up in standby Black Marias.

Police consequently brought them before a mobile court in Yaba for conspiracy, conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace, and violation of COVID-19 protocols.

The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing police brutality and alleged killings of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the Lekki Tollgate had ruled that the tollgate be handed back to its operator, Lekki Concession Company, after forensic experts submitted their report on the October 20, 2020 incident.

Four out of the nine members of the panel had faulted the report of the forensic experts hired to comb the scene for evidence and rejected the application by the LCC to take possession of the facility, which had been shut down since the probe of the shootings started.

The four members who rejected the forensic report are the two representatives of the civil society – Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) and Ms Patience Udoh; as well as the two youth representatives on the panel – Rinu Oduala and Temitope Majekodunmi.