“In the strongest terms, we refute these baseless allegations and clarify that there was no mass burial at Lekki Tollgate,” stated Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health in Lagos. He emphasised that the accusations were nothing more than deliberate attempts to misinform the public and tarnish the reputation of the Lagos State Government.
The controversy stemmed from a letter from the Lagos State Government Public Procurement Agency (PPA), which was misleadingly titled, “Letter of No Objection – Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 EndSARS victims.” However, Dr. Ogboye pointed out that this letter had been wrongly interpreted by certain parties to provoke public sentiment against the government.
“The casualties from the 2020 #EndSARS crisis were scattered across various parts of Lagos, and the Lekki Tollgate incident was not the focal point,” clarified Dr. Ogboye. He further cited specific locations where bodies were picked up by the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit (SEHMU), including Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo, and Ajah areas.
Dr. Ogboye reiterated, “The 103 individuals mentioned in the document lost their lives in these aforementioned incidents, not at Lekki Tollgate as suggested in the misleading reports. I want to emphasise that no bodies were retrieved from the Lekki Tollgate incident.”
The Lagos State Government had extended a public appeal through advertisements and announcements, inviting those who lost loved ones or had missing relatives between October 19 and October 27, 2020, during the #EndSARS unrest in the mentioned areas, to come forward for identification. The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) conducted DNA tests for identification purposes, but no families claimed the bodies.
After nearly three years of no claims, the bodies remained unclaimed, contributing to morgue congestion. Dr. Ogboye clarified that the government, with the approval of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, initiated a lawful and periodic decongestion process to alleviate the situation.
“We hope that this clarification puts an end to the misinformation circulating about the alleged mass burial at Lekki Tollgate. We are committed to transparency and will continue to uphold the trust of the public,” Dr. Ogboye asserted.
