Buhari endorses Lagos #EndSARS panel’s report, promises action on issues affecting FG

President Muhammadu Buhari may have endorsed the #EndSARS report submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu by the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution for Victims of Police Brutality and Extra-Judicial Killings by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police, promising to address issues that affect the federal government.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, speaking on Channels Television on Monday, monitored from Lagos, disclosed that the Presidency is waiting for the official submission of the White Paper on the Panel’s Report, saying that the Federal Government will concentrate attention on issues in the White Paper that affects federal agencies.

The S.A. Media and Publicity to the President expressed doubts if some other states that have completed their inquiry have also submitted their reports to the government. He said that it is only when states present their White Papers on the Panels Reports that the federal government would have something to work on.

Adesina noted that the setting up of the inquiry panels by state governments was not on the directive of the Federal Government, adding that the idea was only suggested to states. He said that it was not within the jurisdiction of the federal government to order state governments on such assignments.

Adesina highlighted inter alia: “What would happen is that when the states come up with pronouncements on that panel report, that would then be of interest to the Federal Government.

“Definitely, when the reports come out the ones that are Federal in nature will be considered. There are some things that would be Federal in nature, the Federal Government would tackle that but things that are state in nature, the state government will handle.

“There is an Attorney General of the Federation who will advise and the needful would be done.

“…I know that areas that would affect the Federal Government will be looked into by the Federal Government.

The setting up of the panels by states “Couldn’t have been a directive because the Federal Government doesn’t have the power. It was just an idea.”

The US Mission in Nigeria had earlier acknowledged the report of the Lagos Panel which established that unarmed peaceful #EndSARS protesters were massacred by the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police during the events that took place at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2021. The US had urged the Nigerian government to appropriate actions to ensure that justice is done to the victims.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, visiting Nigeria last week, stated: “We anticipate and look to the state and federal governments’ response to the findings and expect these to include steps that show accountability and address the grievances of the victims and their families.”