Men of the Nigerian military Friday denied the Lagos state Judicial Panel of Inquiry and journalists access to the Military Hospital in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The judicial panel is investigating accusations of police brutality on citizens and the brutal shooting of #EndSARS demonstrators at the Lekki Toll Plaza.
The visit to the military hospital was unannounced and a second stop on the Judicial Panel’s tour of sites crucial to their investigation. They had earlier visited the toll plaza and found about six bullet casings at the toll gate.
Both the country’s army and the police have rejected allegations of shooting at unarmed protesters at the toll gate.
The panel met resistance as it got to the gate of the hospital.
Ebun Adegboruwa, a member of the panel, told soldiers, at the hospital’s gate, that the panel came to the hospital because it had intelligence that might help with its investigation.
“The facility is relevant to our investigation. We have a pathologist. We are here on the authority of the president, not only the governor,” said Adegboruwa, who’s also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
“If we are not allowed access, we will go back and take other actions. We won’t force ourselves in. We have confidential information that the military hospital here is relevant in the investigation of the Lekki event. We heard this hospital is controlled by 65 battalion and under the 81 division. We are also taking steps to reach military authorities,” the senior lawyer said.
He said while the panel does not have evidence to prove there are bodies of protesters killed at the toll plaza in the hospital, it was at the facility to verify the claim that they were.
By Abel Ejikeme