#EndSARS: How Lagos Judicial Panel admits autopsy reports of 99 recovered corpses

*The Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS-Related Abuses in Lagos State has admitted in evidence post-mortem results and Compact Discs of all 99 corpses deposited at the Lagos morgue October 20─27, 2020

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The relevant authorities, previously, had apparently denied Nigerians of the right to know the ‘accurate figures’ of the dead victims during the nationwide #EndSARS protests that rocked Lagos State and several other parts of the country October last year.

Now, the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses in Lagos State has admitted in evidence post-mortem results and Compact Discs (CDs) of all 99 corpses deposited at the Lagos morgue from October 20 to October 27, 2020.

Prof. John Obafunwa, a consultant anatomic and forensic pathologist, had earlier made this disclosure of the casualty figure while testifying with a view to assisting the panel in its investigation of the widely known October 20 Lekki Tollgate shootings in Lagos.

As a consultant pathologist to the Lagos State Government (LASG), he brought the results to the panel session while testifying before it Saturday, July 10, 2021, following an order earlier made June 5 for the documents to be produced at the panel sittings holding in Lagos.

Prof. Obafunwa tendered documents bearing the post-mortem results and CDs in two nylon bags, blue and white, Channels TV report said.

Subsequently, Justice Doris Okuwobi, Chairman of the Lagos Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of SARS, admitted the documents in evidence after Mr. Yinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, Counsel to some #EndSARS protesters, moved for the documents to be admitted.

There was no objection from other parties before the panel, according to report.

Olumide-Fusika later began his cross-examination of Prof. Obafunwa.

Why Prof. Obafunwa submitted evidence post-mortem results and Compact Discs to panel

It is recalled that during the Panel sitting June 5, 2021, Justice Okuwobi had ordered Prof. Obafunwa to bring before the panel the post-mortem reports conducted on all 99 bodies said to have been picked from different parts of Lagos between October 20 and 27 last year.

The Chairman of the panel made the order after the pathologist testified that the coroner’s office conducted post-mortem autopsies on 99 bodies during the period.

The pathologist as well testified that of the 99 dead victims, only three bodies were labelled as #EndSARS Lekki.

However, the identities of all the three male victims yet have remained unknown, report stated.

The pathologist, who was involved in coroner services through the office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Lagos State, said the 99 bodies were picked up from different locations by officers of the Lagos State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (LASEHMU).

#EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos, Nigeria, before the shootings

According to him, of the 99 dead bodies, the pathologist said that only three were identified as victims of the Lekki shootings, and related the cause of death of each of the three victims, all male.

The witness also played video evidence, detailing the extent of injury suffered by the deceased and the cause of death.

He disclosed that the first body of an unknown victim simply identified as number 005, EndSARS/Yaba/2020 and brought in from Lekki bridge, October 24 by the Lagos State government agency showed a fracture, a laceration on the left side of the skull and a body that was already decomposing.

The pathologist gave the cause of death as “a result of bleeding into the chest cavity, following a blunt force trauma to the chest.”

The second body, “041 unknown identity,” was said to have died at about 1.45a.m. October 21, he stated.

The victim was taken to Reddington Hospital Lekki in an unconscious state as a result of open skull fracture, an attempt to revive him failed, and he was pronounced dead after which he was taken to LASUTH November 1 for post-mortem.

The witness said: “X-ray conducted prior to touching the body showed no bullet or pellets in the body.

“The x-ray revealed multiple skull fracture. Autopsy showed there was a ragged laceration running from the left side to the right side of the skull, further exploration of the wound showed bleeding into the scalp, multiple fracture of the skull, bleeding into the brain tissue. In the chest, there were bruises of the anterior, fracture of the left rib.

He further recalled that “generally, the internal organs were pale, and it suggested there was severe blood loss.

“Hypertensive heart disease, upon examination under the microscope and samples for DNA, death was as a result of skull and brain injury which was due to blunt force trauma.”

Obafunwa noted that the third case, identified as “062 unknown identity”, was also said to have died at Lekki tollgate.

The body was said to have been taken to the General Hospital, in Yaba, and autopsy was conducted November 2.

The cause of death was said to be severe blood loss as a result of disruption of major blood vessel, caused as a result of gunshot injury.

However, Olumide Fusika, Counsel to some of the #EndSARS Protesters, faulted the testimony that only three of the 99 bodies were related to the Lekki shootings in the state.

The Counsel then, made an application that Obafunwa be required to produce details of all 99 bodies to enable him fully conduct his cross-examination of the pathologist.

Counsel to the Lagos State Government, Olukayode Enitan objected to the granting of the application.

Enitan noted that the summons which commanded the attendance of the witness at the panel required him to give reports of incidents of October 20, which occurred at the Lekki toll gate with a view to assisting the panel.

For the LASG Counsel, anything outside this will amounted to inviting the panel to go beyond its terms of reference and the instruments setting it up and this will be tantamount to acting ultra vires.

He, therefore, urged the panel to refuse the application.

After taking submissions from other lawyers in the matter, the panel chairman, Justice Doris Okuwobi noted although it would take a lot of the panel’s time to sit through looking at 96 more dead bodies, she would bow to the majority decision of the lawyers.

The Lagos Judicial Panel then, ordered Prof. Obafunwa to produce the records and autopsy reports of the remaining 96 bodies.

Additional reporting by Emmanuel Akosile

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