Lekki Shooting: NGOs finger Falz, Burna Boy, others in petition to judicial panel

A coalition of NGOs have submitted counter petitions roping in Nigerian celebrities and others into the mayhem that followed the weeks-long ENDSARS protest that rocked Nigeria between October 12 and 23.

In a memorandum sent to the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution with pieces of evidence, the Global Amnesty Watch and others named popular singer Folarin Falana aka Falz, DJ Switch, Feminist Coalition, Burna Boy, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Nnamdi Kanu as being responsible for purveying fake news aimed at causing anarchy in the country.

The groups also accused them all of spearheading the campaign meant to destroy Nigeria.

The memorandum was signed by Abdulmalik Alfa, Werigbelegha Zinake, Linda Etafia and Sadiq Abdullahi on behalf of International Human Rights Protection Forum (IHRPF), Centre for Human Rights Advancement in Nigeria (CHRAN), Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN) and Make Nigeria Better Initiative (MNBI).

The members of the coalition are local NGOs, though their names have global overtones. Their operations have also been within Nigeria, largely supportive of the federal government efforts in many ways, and defending it against accusations and allegations by international rights NGOs.

For instance, they cleared the military of “any wrongdoing at Lekki toll gate, Lagos or anywhere in the country.

According to them, the EndSARS protest across the country is assumed in many quarters to be without a leadership structure.

“While this position has been canvassed in numerous quarters, however, there seems to be a link with regards to the provision of logistic support to the protesters across the country,” the memo stated.

“It is instructive to state that the EndSARS protest was funded from a well-concealed network that raised over N75 Million from donations from individuals in Nigerian and outside the shores of the country through a group called The Feminist Coalition,” the memorandum reads in part.

Lagos Gov Babajide Sanwo Olu set up a judicial panel to investigate petitions against the proscribed SARS unit of the Nigerian police, and to also investigate the October 20 shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate where many protesters were allegedly killed and wounded.

The panel has yet to announce receiving petition on the Lekki shooting, which social media influencers and international NGOs like Amnesty International called a massacre.