Lagos Confirms Award Of Over N61Million Contract For Mass Burial Of 103 Victims, Blames Families

•Bodies Not From Lekki Toll Gate

THE Lagos State government has confirmed moves to conduct mass burial for 103 victims of the October 2020 #ENDSARS protest in the state.

A letter on the approval of N61,285,000 for the mass burial of victims of the protest in the state and signed by the Director-General of Lagos State Public Procurement Agency, Onafowote Idowu, surfaced on social media on Sunday.

However, in a statement issued by the Permanent Secretary in the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Olusegun Ogboye, the government said the victims were not from the Lekki tollgate.

The government added that the bodies which were retrieved in several parts of the state – Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo, and Ajah – have not been unclaimed by the families almost three years after the protest.

It would be recalled that a group of soldiers attached to the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army on the night of October 20, 2020, opened fire on protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos.

An unspecified number of people were reportedly killed in the incident.

But the Federal Government had since dismissed the claim and warned the international community against turning Nigerians against themselves.

The statement read: “For the records, the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit 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.

“There was also 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, no body was retrieved from the Lekki toll gate incident.

“In the aftermath of the #ENDSARS violence, the office of the chief coroner invited members of the public through public adverts and announcements (November 18, 2020, Punch and November 19, 2020, THISDAY) who had lost loved ones or whose relatives had been declared missing between 19th and 27th October 2020 from various clashes as mentioned above, to contact the department of pathology and forensic medicine of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to help with identification of these casualties deposited in state-owned morgues.

“Relatives were to undergo DNA tests for identification purposes. It is important to state categorically that nobody responded to claim any of the bodies.

“However, after almost three years, the bodies remain unclaimed, adding to the congestion of the morgues. This spurred the need to decongest the morgues — a procedure that follows very careful medical and legal guidelines in the event that a relative may still turn up to claim a lost relative years after the incident.”