The Government of Lagos State has suspended its planned mass burial of the 103 corpses recovered in the wake of the October 2020 #EndSARS protest.
The state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso disclosed this to the newspaper on Monday, October 9, 2023.
He said the planned mass burial was suspended because of the controversy that trailed the announcement of the plan in July.
According to Omotoso, the state government was planning to carry out the mass burial 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.”
This announcement had provoked strong reactions from human rights activists and civil society organisations.
Both Amnesty International and the Coalition of #EndSARS Protesters and Supporters had called for the suspension of the planned mass burial.
Amnesty International went further, demanding that the government should also conduct transparent coroner inquests and autopsies on the 103 EndSARS victims.
It would be recalled that the Lagos State Government had in a leaked memo dated July 19, 2023, resolved to conduct a mass burial for the 103 corpses.
The memo also revealed that the government approved N61,285,000 for the burial of the victims.
Speaking on the matter on Monday, Omotoso 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,” the commissioner added.
Omotoso further said “Up till now, nobody has shown up to identify any of the corpses. But the government has decided to give people more time.”
