The Lagos State Government has postponed the planned mass burial of the 103 bodies discovered in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest in October 2020.
Mr Gbenga Omotoso, Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, confirmed the development and exclusively told The PUNCH on Monday, October 9, 2023, that the planned mass burial had been suspended due to the controversy generated by the announcement in July.
In a leaked memo, the state government revealed that it had approved N61,285,000 for the mass burial of the 103 ENDSARS victims.
The memo, titled Letter of No Objection, was dated July 19, 2023. The announcement of a mass burial for the 103 EndSars victims for the year 2020 sparked outrage among Nigerians, human rights activists, and civil society organizations.
Read Also: Lagos State Approves N61m For Burial Of Endsars Victims
Amnesty International and a group calling itself the Coalition of #EndSARS Protesters and Supporters had demanded that the state government halt the planned mass burial.
Amnesty International also demanded that the government conduct transparent coroner inquests and autopsies on the 103 #EndSARS victims.
In response, the state government, through Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Mr Gboyega Akosile, told the PUNCH exclusively that the government would “conform to global best practices” in carrying out the mass burial.
When asked for an update on the matter on Monday, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy said the planned mass burial “remains suspended to give people ample time to identify their relatives that may be among the corpses.”
“It is to allow more time for identification as suggested when it was disclosed that the government was planning a mass burial for them,” Omotoso said.
He stated further that “up till now, nobody has shown up to identify any of the corpses. But the government has decided to give people more time.”
He added that the planned burial would “be carried out soon, but because of the controversies around that time, it was suspended. People now have the time and ample opportunity to see if their relatives are there.”
