Peace March: You Are Dancing On The Blood Of The Dead, Group Tells Sanwolu

By Uche Mbah

The Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, has described the Lagos State Government’s Peace Walk as dancing on the blood of victims of “Lekki Massacre” of October 2020.

The group, also, described the White Paper on the report of the Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters as a veritable insult to the dead and the sensibilities of victims.

This was their reaction to Tuesday’s release of the 41-page Whitepaper.

The report was initially leaked to the Press, which brought opprobrium against the Government who had insisted no one was killed.

In the leaked version, names of several people were listed as killed. President Buhari said the Federal Government would wait for the statement of the State government to take action and submit the report officially to it before reacting.

Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, called a press conference condemning the report as fiction, thereby putting a stamp of doubt on the report.

In the Whitepaper, Lagos State Government accepted 11 out of 32 recommendations made by the panel while rejecting one.

It modified six, and said the Federal Government only has jurisdiction to act on 14 others.

It also rejected claims that nine people died at the Lekki toll plaza.

But CAPPA in a statement said the Whitepaper did not take into account the most important recommendations  –  the killing of protesters.

The Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi said:

“The Whitepaper is not only disappointing, but also exposes how far the Lagos Government and its Federal collaborators will go to deny a known truth.

“But Nigerians are not deceived.” Continuing, he said:

“The Panel report mentioned names of the dead and victims that Sanwo-Olu did not even acknowledge.

“Last week, Kamsiyochukwu was attacked with matchetes and Dabira Oluwa threatened by so-called unknown persons. Some of the panelists have also be threatened.

“Shockingly, Sanwo-Olu turned a golden moment into a joke by proposing a Peace Walk to mark his own commemoration of the shameful events of last year.”

Governor Sanwolu had invited some celebrities and #EndSARS protesters to join the march. They all declined.

“We refuse such a march. The real date we mark the fallen victims of the State’s mishandling of a peaceful protest is October 20, 2020.

“We align with the recommendations of the panel and reiterate our demands that criminal prosecution should be instituted against individuals found to have committed the massacre that happened on October 20, 2020, at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos.

“Until the Federal and Lagos State Governments find the courage to own up to their failures and the murders during the EndSARS protests, genuine peace and justice will be elusive.

“No so-called peace walk will erase the events that happened on October 20, 2020,” Oluwafemi said.