A judicial panel of inquiry has condemned the shooting death of at least 74 people at a toll gate in Lekki, Lagos, last year. The committee concluded that the shootings were “premeditated,” and that the guard had fired at unarmed people because of “fear of being killed.”
Police did not launch an investigation into the toll gate shooting for eight months, until the then-Justice Minister Abubakar Malami asked them to do so in July. The panel found that the death toll was actually 78, and that it was caused by “incited atmosphere of desperation on the part of the force.”
The report also laid blame at the feet of the duty manager at the toll gate, who was arrested by police. He pleaded guilty to assaulting the driver of one of the victims, who had crashed into the toll gate, although he denied assaulting the victim, who was paralyzed from the waist down and died in hospital later.
The report recommended that Lagos State’s Commissioner of Police, Imohimi Edgal, should be prosecuted, in a statement posted on the special panel’s website.
Read the full story at the Guardian.
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