The Lagos State government, yesterday, released a White Paper on the report of the panel on Police Brutality and Lekki Tollgate killings. The state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, dismissed the panel’s report that nine persons were killed at the toll gate when soldiers and the police shot at peaceful protesters. Sanwo-Olu described the conclusion of the panel that nine persons were shot dead as “assumptions and speculations”.

Lagos State panel releases EndSARS report.

According to governor Sanwo-Olu, he said, “It is with a great sense of responsibility that I address you today on the reactions that have trailed the release of the Lagos EndSARS panel report submitted to me about two weeks ago and now it has played out in public discourse since then.

I believe and have always been vocal about this that we owe it to you, the people of Lagos, to constantly speak and engage with you.

In easy times, in difficult circumstances, we will never shy away from making our case to you, while also ensuring that we listen to you.

I will start by saying that we, as an administration, are determined that the next steps that will be taken in this process of coming to terms with the events of October 2020, must bring closure to a painful episode in the history of our state, with the release of the White Paper later today. (Tuesday).

This, in my view, is a moment that beckons us to define who and what we are as a people.

To be a Centre of Excellence, we must be a Centre of Truth. To be a smart city, we first must be just one. To be a prosperous state, we must establish ourselves as a peaceful entity. And to achieve the Greater Lagos of our dreams we must learn to live in harmony, even amidst inevitable disagreement.

In times like these, with anger and animosity too quick and fast at hand, it is easy to hide behind our own prejudices, treating them as deeper truths instead of the superficial lies they are.

It is far too easy to take sides and choose emotion over fact, even when the truth is to be found in shades of nuance. It is easy to choose darkness over light; to take perverse delight in playing unhelpful games of cynicism and suspicion; to cling to beliefs that do not carry the weight of verifiable evidence.

To become a champion of prejudice is to own a fleeting and false victory. It is a victory of rancor over reason, of vengeance over justice, of anger over compassion.

Today, I stand before you to declare that I reject this path; and I invite you all to do same”.