Lekki killings: Buhari approves inspection of military hospital mortuary, says panel member

The Lagos Judicial Committee set up by the Lagos State Government to investigate the alleged Lekki shooting and killings has declared that the morgue of the Military Hospital has to be made available for the panel to investigate, following evidence that could assist their investigation.

Penpushing reports that, Head of the panel, Justice Dorris Okuwobi(rtd) led the team on Friday for a visit to the morgue after the panel sitting  but met resistance from the military officials, while the panel explained that, the decision to check the morgue was borne out of ‘intelligence report’ received

The member of the panel, Ebun Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said the unscheduled visit has the approval of President Muhammed Buhari and Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu

“We decided to pay an unscheduled visit to the mortuary of the military hospital because we have confidential information concerning certain events that took place in the hospital here. We are waiting for them to grant us access to inspect the mortuary because we have reasons to believe that that facility is relevant to our investigation’, he said.

“We don’t want to make any conclusions yet until we have access to the mortuary to inspect it. We have a pathologist with us, who is here to help us conduct medical examination of bodies that we may find in the mortuary,” Adegboruwa said.

Penpushing further reports that, the military hospital is controlled by the 65 Battalion, a unit of the Nigerian Army alleged to have deployed soldiers to Lekki toll gate on October 20, and the deployed soldiers were believed to have shot at unarmed protesters.

The panel members after several minutes of waiting at the gate of the military hospital, alongside journalists were later allowed into the premises, and upon gaining access, it was discovered that all the facilities were not functioning, including the morgue, as the military hospital is undergoing renovation.

Penpushing also reports that, the panel was welcomed into empty hospital rooms, with planks and other renovation materials littering the floor of the hospital, while there were allegations that military personnel carted away the bodies of many victims of the shooting to cover their tracks, and initial reports indicate that two persons died in the Lekki shooting while others were injured. .

The military personnel Colonel Ogoh and A. I Taiwo,l who led the team on the tour around the hospital, explained that the facility has been on renovation since October 2019,but declined to answer questions on where bodies that were at the morgue before the renovation were transferred.