99 corpses deposited at mortuary during the #EndSARS Protest – Pathologist says

The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the alleged killing of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020 has called for the record of all 99 corpses deposited in the mortuary of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital between October 19 and 24 last year.

The panel chairman, retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, made the order on Saturday after LASUTH Chief Pathologist, Prof John Obafunwa, gave testimony before the panel and presented autopsy reports and pictures of three out of the 99 deposited corpses.

Obafunwa told the panel that of the 99 bodies deposited at the mortuary, he was told that only three came from Lekki, hence, the decision to present three autopsy reports and pictures, showing corpses with varying degrees of injury.

“Those are the three bodies I was told were from Lekki as recorded by the people who brought them in,” the pathologist told the panel.

According to him, the other 96 deposited corpses were said to have been recovered from different areas of Lagos.

But one of the counsel representing #EndSARS protesters before the panel, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), disagreed with Obafunwa on the claim that only three corpses came from Lekki.

Olumide-Fusika asked the panel to order LASUTH to bring forward the records and autopsy reports on the entire 99 bodies deposited.

The panel chairman ordered LASUTH to produce records on the 96 other corpses in addition to the three presented on Saturday – The panel adjourned till June 19 for further hearing.

While the Nigerian Army has repeatedly denied shooting at or killing any of the #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate on the night of October 20, 2020, a number of persons with injuries have appeared before the panel insisting that they were shot at the tollgate and that they also witnessed the death of others.