The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the shootings of #EndSARS protesters in Lekki toll gate by soldiers on October 20, 2020 have rejected the request by the Lekki Concession Company to “take back possession” of the tollgate.
Ruling on Tuesday, the Chairman of the panel, retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, said the tollgate plaza would remain closed as the panel may have to revisit the plaza after watching the video footage from a surveillance camera submitted by the LCC.
Rotimi Seriki, counsel to the LCC, had urged the judicial panel to allow the firm retake possession of the tollgate plaza to evaluate the level of damage for the purpose insurance claims.
Seriki said, “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.”
But ruling, Justice Okuwobi said the panel agreed that it was necessary for LCC to go and evaluate the level of damage “but we will not grant that access yet. The need may arise for the panel to revisit.”
Meanwhile, the Lekki Concession Company on Tuesday disclosed that the surveillance camera at the Lekki toll gate stopped working at 8 pm on October 20.
The managing director of LCC, Abayomi Omomuwa, disclosed this while appearing before the Judicial Panel.
He further stated that cameras that were removed before the incident were plate number recognition cameras.
Omomuwa added that other surveillance camera, a pan–tilt–zoom camera (PTZ camera) also exists and is still intact.
“We never, ever tampered with the surveillance camera until about 8 pm, when it was tampered with and stopped recording,” Omomuwa added.
He noted that three surveillance cameras: at the Lekki toll gate, one at Ikoyi and another at Chevron. The cameras are linked via network, controlled from Chevron.
Omomuwa noted they did not activate audio recording, as the cameras are used for traffic not security.
