Panel Report Aftermath: #EndSARS Star Witness Attacked With Matchete On Sunday – Adegboruwa

A frontline #EndSARS protester and one of the movement’s star witnesses at the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters was attacked with machetes, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa alleged on Monday.

Adegboruwa, one of the members of the panel, also raised the alarm over an alleged plot on his life

Adegboruwa in a statement on Monday titled, ‘Nigerians should hold government responsible if anything happens to me’, linked the allegation to the panel’s report which it submitted to the Lagos State Government last Monday.

Last Monday, the panel submitted two documents — a consolidated report on cases of police brutality and another on the Lekki incident investigation — to Sanwo-Olu.

Sanwo-Olu set up a four-man committee to examine it within two weeks and “bring forward the white paper that would be considered at the Lagos State executive council and presented as the white paper coming from the panel of inquiry.”

Hours afterwards, a version of the 309-page document appeared in the media space.

In that version, the panel said the “killing of unarmed protesters by soldiers on October 20, 2020 could be described in the context of a ‘massacre’”.

The report has elicited varied reactions, with several persons citing errors in the document currently in circulation.

Panel members’ competence and integrity have also been questioned by several commentators.

In his fourth statement on the matter since the panel submitted its report, the SAN alleged that he was being threatened.

Adegboruwa said: “Since the submission of the report of the Lagos #EndSARS Panel, there have been lots of threats and attacks, by those suspected to be agents of the government, upon me, especially in the media.

“I have not committed any crime beyond joining other eminent Nigerians with unblemished integrity, to accept the nomination of government on behalf of my constituency, the Nigerian Bar Association and the civil society and the indeed the masses of our people, for a national assignment.

“Two prominent lawyers of the government have openly incited opinions against me on national television, with mindless accusations.

“I have however refused to be intimidated or bend to the tactics of government to be silenced.

“I urge the good people of Nigeria, my professional colleagues in the Nigerian Bar Association, my comrades in the civil rights movement and the people of Nigeria, to hold government responsible should anything happen to me.

“Just last night, one of the prominent EndSARS protesters who testified before the Panel, Miss Kamsiyochukwu Ibe, was attacked and dealt serous machete blows, in what was clearly an attempted murder, as reported by her counsel, with very disturbing photos.

“I heeded the clarion call to serve by the government with the honest believe that the Panel was meant to say the truth and nothing but the truth, which is what we have done. It is left for government and Nigerians to do the needful with the report of the Panel.

“God bless Nigeria.”