#EndSARS lawyer wants Fashola summoned over Lekki tollgate camera

Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, may be summoned by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the alleged killing of protesters by soldiers at the Lekki tollgate on the night of October 20.

Counsel for some #EndSARS protesters, Mr Adesina Ogunlana, said on Friday that he would apply for the minister to be summoned.

Ogunlana told the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel that Fashola must be summoned to explain the circumstances in which he found a camera at the toll gate five days after the shooting incident.

According to him, the visit to the tollgate on October 25 when Fashola found a camera “suggests an intrusion” into the evidence of the October 20 shootings.

Ogunlana said this while cross-examining the Managing Director of the Lekki Concession Company, operator of the Lekki toll gate, Mr Abayomi Omomuwa.

Ogunlana had asked Omomuwa if he was aware that “on October 25, the Governor of Lagos State brought some persons to visit the toll gate” to which Omomuwa said he only read it in the news.

Omomuwa further told Ogunlana that he was not present during the visit because he does not report to the Lagos State Government.

Ogunlana asked him, “Where is that camera that the minister, popularly known as Agent Fash, removed?” And in response, Omomuwa said, “I don’t know.”

However, counsel for the LCC, Rotimi Seriki, objected to Ogunlana asking the MD that question.

Replying Seriki, the #EndSARS protesters’ lawyer said the issue was crucial to his case and asked if the panel had issued a summons on Fashola.

But the panel chairman, Justice Okuwobi, told Ogunlana that he would have to follow the proper procedure if he wanted Fashola’s appearance before the panel.

He said, “I wouldn’t know if it is too early for me to apply for Minister Fashola to appear before the panel to assist investigation.”

When asked by Ogunlana if the LCC lost revenue to the tollgate occupation by #EndSARS protesters,  Omomuwa said, “I believe that is the business of the company, not something to discuss in public.”

But when further pressed by Ogunlana, Omomuwa said, “It is obvious; when toll is not collected, revenue is lost.”