Minister’s response on #EndSARS panel report has done more damage to FG, says Niger Delta rights activist

A Niger Delta rights activist, Cleric Alaowei has described the reaction of the Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to the panel report submitted to the Lagos State government by the #EndSARS Panel as a response that has done more damage than good to the image of the Federal Government.

Recall that Alhaji Lai Mohammed described the report, which admitted that there were indeed killings during the #ENDSARS protest on October 20, 2020, as fake and unreliable at a press conference on Tuesday.

Chairman, Board of Trustees, Centre for Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Crusade (CHURAC), Cleric Alaowei, who made this known in a statement on Wednesday, said the Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation should have waited for the white paper to be made available to the Lagos State government before making FG’s views known.

“It was not the Federal Government but the Lagos State that empaneled the judicial panel of inquiry.

“The report of the Panel was accordingly submitted to the Lagos State Government. The latter has not taken a step on it or issued the expected white paper on the report.

“This simply means that whatever anybody is saying about the report is mere hearsay which has no evidential value.

“Alhaji Lai Mohammed is only belittling his exalted office and the government to comment on a leaked report.

“It is demeaning and embarrassing that a person of Lai Mohammed’s status, who is even a lawyer, will stoop so low to dabble into a report in the rumour mill,” Alaowei affirmed.

The Warri-based lawyer further noted that “just like President Buhari in his wisdom said, he was waiting for the Lagos State government to comment on the report, every sane Nigerian does expect that the Federal Government will actually wait for the Lagos State government’s response before taking steps.

“Nigerians and indeed the global community are highly disappointed in what the Minister did today. We must not forget that the world is watching us.

“Even if the Lagos State Government issues the white paper, it’s not in the position of the Hon. Minister to cast aspersion on the Panel. It’s unethical for a lawyer to openly discredit the decision of the court or even judicial panel however bad it may be.

“The best thing to do if the Federal Government is not satisfied with the panel’s report once it’s made public is to institute an action in court to set it aside.

“The FG is not in a position to either accept or reject the panel report because it was not set up by the central government.

“Lai Mohammed goofed to have discarded the Lagos State #EndSARS Panel’s report.”

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