The Lagos State government has debunked reports of a planned mass burial for casualties of the 2020 #Endsars protest.
A statement by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, described the report as ‘deliberately misinterpreting and sensationalising a letter from the Public Procurement Agency’.
Ogboye maintained that the 103 bodies were picked up after the violent #EndSARS protests and other clashes at Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo and Ajah areas of the state, as well as a jailbreak at Ikoyi prison.
There was a letter from the Lagos State Government Public Procurement Agency, ‘Letter of No Objection – Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 ENDSARS victims’, permitting the burial of the victims.
But Ogboye accused mischief makers of misinterpreting the letter to misinform the public, stir public sentiment and cause public disaffection against the Lagos State government.
The statement reads: “It is public knowledge that the year 2020 #EndSARS crisis that snowballed into violence in many parts of Lagos recorded casualties in different areas of the state and NOT from the Lekki Toll Gate, as being inferred in the mischievous publications.
“For the records, the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit (SEHMU) 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, including 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.
“While the Lagos State government would not have dignified the mischievous elements peddling such news with a response, we consider it appropriate to set the records straight and draw the attention of well-meaning citizens to the antics of some unscrupulous elements who are bent on disrupting the peace and tranquillity of Lagos with distorted news and half-truth about the letter.
“In the aftermath of the #EndSARS violence, the Office of the Chief Coroner invited the public, through adverts and announcements who had lost loved ones or whose relatives had been declared missing between October 19 and 27, 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. Decongestion of our public morgues is a periodic and regular exercise approved by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to free up space in mortuaries that have a large number of unclaimed bodies.”
Credit: The Nation
