Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, has reacted to the release of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the ENDSARS protest, saying the report was released through the wrong channel.
Fielding questions from reporters Tuesday, Gen Irabor said: “I am sure those of you in the media must have seen that there was a report that was released, in my view through a wrong channel, that is making the rounds in the social media. Whether it is a true report, I can’t tell.
“But I will like to indicate that normal procedure is to have such a report submitted to the convening authority and then there will be a white paper that will be presented on the basis of which one can make informed comments.”
General Irabor said, “Whatever it is currently, I will like to indicate that the Armed Forces of Nigeria is a professional Armed Forces. We are peopled by Nigerians and we remain committed to our constitutional mandate. So, we do not at this point think that Nigerians should make disparaging remarks regarding the Armed Forces of Nigeria in the sense that we are professional armed forces. If there are issues, of course, we will address them within the ambit of the provisions.”
Insisting that it will not be right to disparage men who work so hard to ensure that the territorial integrity of Nigeria is kept intact. Gen. Irabor said, “In the meantime until I see the full extent of the report I may not be able to (comment). But I can assure you that the armed forces of Nigeria, are all disciplined and we do not engage in any ignoble act. “
Speaking further, he said if they did not enjoy the trust of Nigerians, the armed forces would not have been doing what they were doing.
“And in any case, remember it is the armed forces of Nigeria. We are not talking about the police, we are talking about the armed forces, with emphasis, the ARMED FORCES. So when the armed forces are called out, it is because there is a need for the armed forces,” he added.
The Judicial Panel of Inquiry (JPI) set up by the Lagos state government to probe the October 20, 2020, #EndSARs protest had in its report submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday revealed that at least 11 persons were killed during the peaceful demonstration at the Lekki Tollgate and another four missing but presumed dead, making a total of 15 dead persons.
The report, which also called the Lekki Tollgate shootings of October 20, 2020, “a massacre,” was an incriminating indictment of heightening extrajudicial killings and unprofessionalism by Nigerian law enforcement agents
The report described as “atrocious”, the maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless, and unresisting protesters while sitting on the floor, waving their Nigerian flags and singing the National Anthem, stressing that the act could be equated to a “massacre in context.”
