#EndSARS panel may summon Fashola over Lekki tollgate camera

An #EndSARS protesters’ lawyer, Mr Adesina Ogunlana, has asked the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry to summon the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola.

The panel is probing the alleged killing of protesters by soldiers at the Lekki tollgate on October 20.

Ogunlana told the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel that Fashola must be summoned to explain the circumstances in which he found a camera at the tollgate five days after the shooting incident.

According to Ogunlana, the visit to the tollgate on October 25 when Fashola found a camera “suggests an intrusion” into the evidence of the October 20 shootings.

Ogunlana said this on Saturday while cross-examining the Managing Director of the Lekki Concession Company, operator of the Lekki tollgate, Mr Abayomi Omomuwa.

Ogunlana had asked Omomuwa if he was aware that “on October 25, the Governor of Lagos State brought some persons to visit the tollgate?” to which, Omomuwa said he only read it in the news.

Omomuwa further told Ogunlana that he was not present during the visit because he does not report to the Lagos State Government.

Then Ogunlana asked him, “Where is that camera that the minister, popularly known as Agent Fash, removed?” And in response, Omomuwa said, “I don’t know.”

However, counsel for LCC, Rotimi Seriki, objected to Ogunlana asking the MD that question.

Replying to Seriki, the #EndSARS protesters’ lawyer said the issue was crucial to his case and asked if the panel had issued a summon on Fashola.

But the panel chairman, Justice Okuwobi, told Ogunlana that he would have to follow the proper procedure if he wanted Fashola’s appearance before the panel.

Then, hitting that he would be requesting that Fashola be summoned, Ogunlana said, “I wouldn’t know if it is too early for me to apply for Minister Fashola to appear before the panel to assist investigation?”