EndSARS: Pathologist Tenders Autopsy Reports Of 99 Persons Killed During Protest

The Chief Pathologist of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), John Obafunwa, on Saturday submitted the autopsy documents of 99 deaths resulting from the #EndSARS protests in Lagos to the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry. Mr Obafunwa, a professor of forensic pathology, was told to submit the autopsy reports at the last proceedings on June 6.

According to him, the 99 bodies, which include three killed at the Lekki Toll Gate during the shooting on October 20, 2020 by soldiers, were deposited at the morgue between October 19 and October 24, 2020.

While giving evidence at the panel on Saturday, Mr Obafunwa, the head of the department of morbid anatomy at the Lagos State University College of Medicine, said the ethical practice, especially during a ‘mass disaster’ or “a situation where all sorts of speculations arise”, is to do an x-ray “before you put a knife to a body.”

“You need to look for hidden fractures or prosthesis. It will help if such is discovered because it will be circumstantial evidence to make you say that this body belongs to this person.

“We need to avoid sensationalism. If you look at a page in the report I submitted, all I did was to summarise. However, if I do an autopsy and I do not do radiography, you would tear me to pieces if I come to court with such a record. That is why I had to do everything, leaving nothing to chance.”

The chair of the panel, Doris Okuwobi, ruled that the records presented be accepted as evidence and adjourned further hearing till June 26.

Soldiers’ shooting

On October 20 last year, soldiers opened fire at unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate killing yet-to-be-determined number of people. Although the army initially denied its soldiers shot at unarmed protesters, the multitude of evidence presented by witnesses, including videos showed that soldiers shot at protesters.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who initially said no one died from the shooting, later said only two persons died. Several protesters, including those who have appeared before the judicial panel to give evidence that many people were killed at the Lekki tollgate and many injured, have insisted that some of the corpses were taken away by the soldiers.

#Endsars: Army Agrees to using live bullets on protesters, 99 bodies recovered

Autopsy reports of 99 persons reportedly killed in Lagos during last year’s #EndSARS protests were Saturday admitted in evidence by the state’s judicial panel of inquiry.

The panel chaired by Doris Okuwobi also admitted compact discs of all the 99 bodies deposited at the morgues in the state, between October 20 and 27, 2020.

The Chief Pathologist of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), John Obafunwa, who testified before the panel submitted the reports following an order on June 5 for the post mortem results of all the 99 corpses to be made available.

The documents were contained in two bags.

During the cross-examination, Olumide Olumide-Fusika, legal counsel to some of the protesters, noted that Mr Obafunwa disclosed that the bodies were recovered from different parts of Lagos at the time.

“I want to prove to this panel that the claim that only three dead bodies were brought in from Lekki is not true,” Mr Olumide-Fusika said.

Autopsy reports

During his testimony in June, Mr Obafunwa, a professor of Medicine, and the Head of the Department of Morbid Anatomy at the Lagos University College of Medicine, said at least 99 persons were killed during the #EndSARS protests.

He added that three persons were killed in Lekki when soldiers opened fire on unarmed protesters at the toll plaza on October 20, 2020.

The remaining bodies were received from other parts of the state including Surulere, Ikorodu, Ajah, Fagba, among others, Mr Obafunwa said.

Mrs Okuwobi adjourned the matter until July 13.There has been a controversy around the casualty figures of the Lekki tollgate shooting since the incident occurred last year.

Lekki shooting

At about 6:45 p.m. on October 20, men in military uniform arrived at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos in three Toyota Hilux vans and almost immediately began shooting into a crowd of peaceful protesters gathered there waving the Nigerian green-and-white flag and reciting the national anthem.

The protesters, mostly youth, were protesting police brutality and asking for reforms in governance. The army which initially denied shooting at the protesters, later admitted that its men carried live bullets that night but only to tackle armed hoodlums who had hijacked the protests.

Ahmed Taiwo, Commander of the 81 Division, Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, told the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry into the Lekki Tollgate incident then that the army went to the tollgate “with both blank and live ammunition”.

The official also fell short of saying his men fired live shots at Nigerians on their way “to clear the Lekki, Eti-Osa corridor”.

After the incident and the outcry it generated, the federal government disbanded the notorious SARS unit known for human rights abuses and asked states to set up panels of enquiry into cases of human rights abuses by the police.

Most of the panels are concluding their work which are expected to be submitted to the Federal government.