Outrage In Nigeria Over Lagos Mass Burial
There is outrage in Nigeria after a leaked memo showed the Lagos State government had approved $77,000 (£60,000) for a mass burial of 103 people, who have been linked to the historic 2020 #EndSars protest against police brutality.
Some Nigerians have expressed shock and said the victims scheduled to be buried were demonstrators allegedly killed by the army at the Lekki toll gate shooting on 20 October during the protests.
The number of those who died has long been a source of controversy in Nigeria, with the military initially denying anyone had been killed. However, a Judicial Panel of Inquiry has reported that nine protesters were killed and four presumed dead.
The government denies the 103 bodies are from the Lekki incident, describing such interpretations as misleading.
The permanent secretary to the Lagos state’s Ministry of Health, Dr Olusegun Ogboye, explained that the bodies were picked up from at least 12 locations across the state “in the aftermath of #EndSARS violence and community clashes, including a jailbreak at Ikoyi Prison.
“Peddlers of the news are deliberately misinterpreting and sensationalizing a letter from the Lagos State Government Public Procurement Agency.”
He said the government had approved the mass burial after no families claimed the 103 bodies.
Tens of thousands of Nigerians took to the streets in October 2020 against police brutality and also called for the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit to be disbanded.
Source: BBC
