Information Minister Lai Mohammed on Tuesday said the panel’s report, which was leaked and widely shared on social media last week, was “nothing but a triumph of fake news.”
Speaking at a news conference in the nation’s capital Abuja, Mohammed doubled down on the government’s persistent denial of the Lekki shootings, saying: “That report is nothing but a triumph of news. fake news and the threat of a silent majority by a rabid mob.”
The minister also criticized CNN for “celebrating” the report in a “rush to a vindication.”
However, a member of the panel Segun Awosanya told CNN on Wednesday that the panel’s findings are based on objectivity and facts.
He added that the Minister’s comment is inappropriate which comes at a time when the country is still recovering from the Lekki incident.
Awosanya said: “Whatever it is that Alhaji Lai Mohammed said in his press conference … is not the right way to deal with such a problem in a country that wants healing, justice and wants won the trust of the public”, adding that “the panel worked objectively and surgically … to ensure that truth and truth were allowed to emerge, and we made recommendations mine based on that.”
In response to Mohammed’s claim that the leaked report “cannot be relied upon as its authenticity is in doubt,” Awosanya told CNN that hard copies of the report have been sent to Lagos authorities.
“The report is not a public document. It is not a government issue whether it is leaked or not. It is important to us that we have sent a hard copy to the government and to the government. The government has promised to respond in two weeks through a white paper and a joint release. We wrote the report, we put it together, and we have a consensus on it,” he said.
In its year-long report, the Judicial Inquiry and Compensation Commission at the Lagos Arbitration Court documented the shooting of young protesters who were peacefully protesting against allegations of police brutality by force. Nigerian security forces at Lekki toll gate, can be considered a “carnage.”
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for action after the panel’s report was officially released. “There may be reforms that are needed” to ensure a similar event is not repeated, he said.
“If there are individuals, as outlined in this report, who are responsible for the abuses, then there should be accountability on those individuals,” he told CNN.
The Nigerian government’s account of the incident has long denied that protesters were shot at the toll gate, despite video evidence and numerous eyewitness accounts that have been collated by CNN.
