Call For Public To Come And Identify Corpses Has Nothing To Do With Lekki Toll Gate Incident — Lagos Govt

The Lagos State Government has clarified that its invitation to the public to come and identify corpses has no link with the Lekki Tollgate incidence

Recall that the Chief Coroner of Lagos State, Hon. Justice M. A. Dada (Mrs), had on Wednesday called on those who have lost loved ones between 19th to 27th of October, 2020 to provide relevant information that would assist the identification of such lost persons.

However, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, said on Friday, that the identification of bodies was meant for victims of cultists and hoodlums’ killings, and not of the Lekki tollgate which had attracted both local and global outrage.

“On the announcement by the Chief Coroner that people should come and identify their dead relatives is a routine matter; it has nothing to do with what happened in Lekki.” he said

According to him, even prior to the Lekki Tollgate incidence, there were killings in some parts of Lagos

“There is a law that you cannot bury anybody without a coroner’s inquest. You agree that even before Lekki, people were already being killed. Cultists were on the rampage in Ikorodu, Surulere, on Ikorodu Road and so many other places in Lagos. Also, policemen were being killed.

“There was anarchy. So the bodies that were picked up at the scene of all of these killings and fighting are the ones that the coroner is asking Lagos residents to come and identify.”

He added that there is no attempt for cover up by Lagos government regarding the Lekki Tollgate incidence.

“If it is Lekki that they say the government is trying to cover up, there is no way the government would now go out to newspapers to ask people to come and look at dead bodies.” he said