The panel the government of Lagos set up to probe police brutality has turned down the request of the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) to take possession of the tollgate.
LCC suspended activities at the toll plaza after the shooting of October 20, 2020. Soldiers had dispersed #EndSARS protesters who blocked the toll gate for 13 days. Subsequently, an angry mob destroyed some facilities at the toll plaza.
On Tuesday, Rotimi Seriki, counsel to LCC, operators of the toll gate, asked the panel to allow the firm to take possession of the tollgate in order to evaluate the level of damage ahead of making insurance claims.
“My humble request is that if the tribunal doesn’t have further need to visit the plaza, the LCC should be permitted to take back possession of the toll plaza for the purpose of evaluation of the damage and commence the process of carrying out necessary repairs,” he had said.
But in her response, Doris Okuwobi, chairperson of the panel, agreed with LCC on the evaluation of the level of damage but she said the panel will not grant its request yet.
She asked Seriki to encourage his client to make the request after the panel is done with the footage submitted earlier in the day.
She also said the panel might pay another visit to the tollgate.
Abayomi Omomuwansa, managing director of LCC, had submitted a video footage recorded by its surveillance cameras on October 20, 2020 to the judicial panel.
Omomuwansa said the surveillance cameras are called PTZ; wherein P enables the camera pan; T enables the camera tilt, and Z allows the camera to zoom.
He said they were mounted on a mast at the tollgate and that the cameras stopped working from 8pm on the night of the shooting at the tollgate.
“I can confirm that inside here is the video footage that our surveillance camera was able to record for the 20th of October,” he had said.