Lagos #EndSARS panel illegal, can’t probe military, police – Keyamo

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), on Sunday dismissed the #EndSARS panel set up by the Lagos State Government and the report it presented to state government recently.

Keyamo said it was out of the jurisdiction of the panel to investigate the activities of Federal Government institutions and officials such as the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Army.

The minister, while appearing on Sunday Politics, a current affairs programme on Channels Television which our correspondent monitored from Abuja on Sunday, however, said he was not speaking for the Federal Government.

The panel had stated in its report that at least nine persons were killed on the night soldiers and policemen stormed the Lekki tollgate to disperse #EndSARS protesters, describing the incident as a “massacre in context.”

However, Keyamo was asked on Sunday why the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), called for constitution of panels across the states to investigate cases of human rights abuses while the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, would later dismiss the report by the Lagos panel.

He said, “I will not answer this question as a sitting minister. I will answer this question as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria – a member of the Inner Bar, and so I am entitled to my opinion. This is not the Federal Government’s position. From me, that panel was an illegal panel. It was totally illegal.

“All lawyers who are listening to me should go back and read the Tribunals of Enquiry Act of Lagos State. It says that the governor will have the powers to inquire into the conduct of any person – underline any person – and chieftaincy matters and any other matter that will promote the good of the public.