Lekki Shooting: You Can Not Resume Activities Now – Panel Tells LCC

By Our Correspondent

The Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by Lagos State Government to probe police brutality has turned down the request of the Lekki Concession Company, LCC to resume activities by taking possession of the tollgate.

LCC suspended activities at the toll plaza after the shooting of October 20, 2020.

Soldiers had dispersed #EndSARS protesters who blocked the toll gate for 13 days.

Subsequently, an angry mob destroyed some facilities at the toll plaza.

Counsel to LCC, operators of the toll gate, Rotimi Seriki on Tuesday asked the panel to allow the firm to take possession of the tollgate in order to evaluate the level of damage ahead of making insurance claims.

“My humble request is that if the tribunal doesn’t have further need to visit the plaza, the LCC should be permitted to take back possession of the toll plaza for the purpose of evaluation of the damage and commence the process of carrying out necessary repairs,” he had said.

But in her response, Chairperson of the Panel, Doris Okuwobi, agreed with LCC on the evaluation of the level of damage but she said the panel will not grant such request yet.

Okuwobi asked Seriki to encourage his client to make the request after the panel is done with the footage submitted.

She also said the panel might pay another visit to the tollgate.

It has been reported in the media that Managing Director, LCC, Abayomi Omomuwansa, submitted a video footage recorded by its surveillance cameras on October 20, 2020 to the judicial panel.

Omomuwansa said the surveillance cameras are called PTZ; wherein P enables the camera pan; T enables the camera tilt, and Z allows the camera to zoom.

He said they were mounted on a mast at the tollgate and that the cameras stopped working from 8pm on the night of the shooting at the tollgate.

“I can confirm that inside here is the video footage that our surveillance camera was able to record for the 20th of October,” he had said.