Falana says White Paper Committee is not legally competent to edit, modify, alter, edit or reject the report of the Commission of Inquiry
EndSars panels set up at the behest of the federal government, Adegboruwa counters Keyamo’s lie
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), says Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu cannot reject the report of the judicial panel he set up to probe the EndSars protest killings, despite denials and lies by the federal government.
He also insists that, based on the Tribunal of Enquiry Law, Abuja lacks legal competence to reject the report of a panel duly constituted by the Lagos State government.
Sanwo-Olu received the report on November 15 and set up a committee to produce a White Paper on it which he promised to release within two weeks. That deadline is today.
President Muhammadu Buhari pledged on November 18 to wait for the White Paper before making comment on the findings.
However, Information Minister Lai Mohammed jumped the gun on November 23 and insisted that no one was murdered at Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020 by the military and the police.
Labour and Employment Minister of State, Festus Keyamo, advanced the lie on Channels Television on Sunday when he argued that the panel was illegal because a state government cannot probe the military or the police.
“I will answer this question as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and so, I am entitled to my own opinion. This is not the federal government’s position. For me, that panel was an illegal panel,” he said.
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Adegboruwa counters Keyamo’s lie
A member of the panel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, also a SAN, countered the lie on Monday, stressing that EndSars panels set up by state governments across the country are legal and can probe extrajudicial killings by the army and the police.
“The federal government has recently muted the idea that all the Judicial Panels of Inquiry set up by the various states across the federation, especially that of Lagos State, are illegal.
“It has never been part of our legal system in Nigeria, for a plaintiff who approached the court in the first instance, to turn around to challenge the legality or jurisdiction of the court,” he said.
“The EndSARS panels were set up at the behest of the federal government, through the National Economic Council.
“In the case of the Lagos Panel, the federal government, through the Nigerian Army, voluntarily submitted itself to the jurisdiction of the Panel, the federal government called witnesses, it tendered documents and it made very lengthy presentations.
“A party cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time. Thus, a party who initiated a process and willingly and actively participated in that process, cannot turn around, after judgment, to plead illegality or absence of jurisdiction, simply because the outcome is unfavourable.
“We must strengthen our institutions to make them work.
“While we all await the White Paper from the Lagos State government, it is important for government to build trust in the people in all its dealings and utterances.”
Abuja lacks legal competence to reject panel report
Falana had first buttressed that position at the weekend when he addressed leaders of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights who visited him in Lagos, per reporting by The PUNCH.
His words: “Pursuant to the Tribunals of Inquiry Law, Laws of Lagos State, 2015, the Justice Doris Okuwobi Commission of Enquiry was instituted by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, last year to probe allegations of police brutality in the State.
“Upon the conclusion of the assignment last week, the commission submitted ‘a full report in writing of its proceedings, findings and recommendations, records, opinions, and reasons leading to its conclusions’ in line with Section 15(1) of the Law.
“Thereafter, the governor set up a four-member committee of cabinet members headed by the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), to advise him with respect to the position of the Government which will be contained in a White Paper.
“We are not unaware of the purported rejection of the report of the commission by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, and the pressure on the White Paper Committee by some anti-democratic forces to advise the governor to jettison the findings and recommendations of the commission.”
Falana said un the law, there is no provision for the issuance of a White Paper, a mere administrative medium for conveying the decision or position of the government on the report of an administrative or judicial enquiry.
“Since the White Paper Committee is not known to law, its members are not competent to edit, modify, alter, edit or reject the report of the Commission.
“More so, that the members of the White Paper Committee did not have the opportunity of taking evidence from the witnesses who had testified before the Commission.
“Having regard to the letter and spirit of the Tribunal of Enquiry Law, it is submitted that the federal government lacks the legal competence to reject the report of a panel of enquiry duly constituted by the Lagos State government.
“Therefore, Governor Sanwo-Olu should not hesitate to reject the gratuitous call for the rejection of the report of the Lagos Judicial Commission by Mr Lai Mohammed.
“Once a White Paper is issued by the governor on the recommendations, the institutions and individuals indicted by the commission may wish to approach the High Court to challenge any aspect of the report.”
EndSars panel report one of the best every produced, says Falana
Falana had praised the report on November 18 as one of the best ever produced.
“The panel gave everybody fair hearing, bent over backward to accommodate those who should have been sent packing, did a thorough analysis of the evidence and arrived at recommendations that tallied with the findings.
“It was a thorough-going exercise, one of the best reports ever produced by a judicial commission of inquiry in Nigeria,” he told Channels Television.
He faulted the leakage of the report explaining that Lagos should only release the report after its White Paper Committee has completed its assignment.
“A judicial commission of inquiry was set up, it has concluded its assignment and submitted the report to the government, including the recommendations.
“The government will have to study the report and recommendations and issue a White Paper which should contain the directives of the government on each of the findings.
“So the government could not have released the report and the government should not have released the report [yet]. A committee has been set up now and that committee should have been allowed to carry out its assignment.
“It is after that committee has concluded its own assignment that the government will then release the report via a White Paper.”