By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Festus Keyamo, Minister of State, Labour and Employment and Ebun Olu-Adegoruwa, member of the Lagos State EndSARS Panel, have disagreed over the legality of the panels and the integrity of their reports.
The Lagos Panel was set up in 2020 after the nation-wide protest against police brutality, especially after the incident that took place at the Lekki tollgate, where some unarmed youths were reportedly killed by security agents.
Reacting to the report of the panel which has raised a lot of dust since it was submitted to the Lagos State government, Keyamo discredited the panel which he said was set up illegally, thus making any findings it may have made null and void.
According to Keyamo: “For me, that panel was an illegal panel. It is totally illegal. All lawyers who are listening to me should go back and read to the Tribunal of Inquiry Act of Lagos State.
“It says that the Governor will have power to inquire into the conduct of any person and chieftaincy matters and any matter that would promote the good of the public.
“However, any person there was defined in Section 21 to mean public officers of the state. It is defined to mean somebody within the public service of the Lagos State or the Local Government as the case may be.
“However, if you look at sSection 21 again of the Tribunal of Inquiry Law, it says that it has to be within the legislative competence of Lagos State.
“In other words, it is only a person over which whom the Lagos State has control that they can inquire into their conduct. If you don’t have control over me, you can’t inquire into my conduct.
“The Policemen, the Armed Forces, the Military are not officers of Lagos State. They are officers of the Federal Government.
“By virtue of the Constitution, it is only the Federal Government that can control the conduct of policemen and the military. Lagos State cannot be in control, cannot legislate too regarding police matters and military matters.
“To inquire into the conduct of Policemen and Military, no state government can’t do that.”
Adegberuwa disagrees with Keyamo
However, Adegberuwa accused agents of government of striving to discredit the panel’s report, saying they are only living in denial as it was the Federal Government that directed the states to set up the probe panel across the nation.
According to him: “The #EndSARS Panels were set up at the behest of the Federal Government, through the National Economic Council. In the case of the Lagos Panel, the Federal gGovernment, through the Nigerian Army, voluntarily submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the Panel, the Federal Government called witnesses, it tendered documents and it made very lengthy presentations.”
He further argued that “a party cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time. Thus, a party who initiated a process and willingly and actively participated in that process, cannot turn around, after judgment, to plead illegality or absence of jurisdiction, simply because the outcome is unfavorable. We must strengthen our institutions to make them work.
“While we all await the White Paper from the Lagos State Government, it is important for government to build trust in the people in all its dealings and utterances.”
Records show that a total of 28 states had set up panels, which submitted their reports to the respective governors.
However, trouble started after the Lagos panel submitted its report, which was eventually leaked.
In the report, the panel indicted the military and the state government while it declared that 11 people lost their lives at Lekki tollgate.
It also recommended the prosecution of soldiers and some policemen who were involved in the incidents.