Leaked EndSARS Mass Burial Memo Will Spring Many Surprises- Adegboruwa

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has suggested that the recent leak of a Lagos State Government memo regarding the secret mass burial of 103 victims of the 2020 EndSARS protests may be the first of several unexpected revelations.

Adegboruwa, a member of the Justice Doris Okuwobi-led Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS-Related Abuses, stated this on Channels Television’s Law Weekly.

“The leaked memo from the Ministry of Health of Lagos State is one of the many surprises that people will still see in the course of time so long as the government has not come to terms with the reality of the events of October 20th, 2020,” Adegboruwa said.

The senior lawyer argued that the reality of fatalities from the night of October 20, 2020, when soldiers stormed the Lekki Toll Gate, a major site of the protests, is undeniable.

“To blanketly assert that there was no death or there was no blood spilt in any way at all as a result in particular of gunshots by members of the Nigerian Army is to do a disservice to the souls of those people who are affected,”Adegboruwa added.

The leaked memo, dated July 19, 2023, which sparked outrage, indicated that the Lagos State Government approved a sum of N61,285,000 for the mass burial of individuals identified as victims of the 2020 EndSARS protests.

This came three years after the incident drew global criticism and condemnation from human rights organizations.

In response, the Lagos State Ministry of Health confirmed the letter’s authenticity but clarified that the bodies were not from the Lekki toll gate.

Instead, they were collected by the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit from various other areas within the state.