By Fadeshola Ojamomi Esq

There can be no justice without truth and there can be no truth unless someone rises to tell it.

Emile Zola has rightly posited that “truth and justice are about and beyond everything for the greatness of Nations depend on them”. Sadly, Nigeria’s current reality was not envisioned by the French Novelist.

We all could recall that Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN, a member of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters headed by Retired Justice Doris Okuwobi had on the 17th of November 2021 raised the alarm that members of the panel were unfairly persecuted by some Lagos State Government official over the report that protesters were killed on the 20th day of October 2020. Ebun Stated that all manners of the allegations have been heaped upon panel members, while some have been called unprinted names while others were threatened.

The Human Rights Activist has stated unequivocally that suspected agents of the government have attacked him and issued a threat to his life, especially on the media. Series of sponsored attacks and mindless accusations on national television is the new order. Ebun has served this country meritoriously and does not in any way deserve this threat to his life. One will begin to wonder why the government of Lagos appointed him and other panelists in the first place if they will end up doubting their report to the point of issuing threats via political appointees.

On Sunday, November 21 at Crown Estate Bus-Stop in the Sangotedo area of Lagos State, one of the prominent ENDSARS protesters who testified before the panel, Miss Kamsiyochukwu Ibe, was attacked, stabbed 4 times on her wrist, and macheted in a significant part of her body. This is a clear case of attempted murder by the hoodlums who she alleged to have been sent by the government.

In another twist, the lady who visited Kamsi at the hospital was equally sent a note reading “You are next” with her picture attached and other unidentifiable images.

I have therefore noticed this trend and hereby call on the Governor of Lagos State to as a matter of exigency protect the lives and property of every member of the panel and witnesses especially Ebun Adegboruwa SAN. These scare tactics, the threat to life, attempted murder, malicious and unjustified harming of a person’s good reputation can only delay Justice but never contravene the fact that there was a massacre at the Lekki-Tollgate.

As laid down by Lord Hewart, the then Lord Chief Justice of England in the case of Rex v Sussex Justices, [1924] 1 KB 256 “Justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done”. Those who died or got injured at the Lekki Toll-Gate October 20 2020 Massacre must get Justice and people who fight for their justice must be protected at all cost by the state since they have repeatedly denied being complicit.

It will be morally wrong and unlawful for the Lagos State government under Sanwo-Olu to continuously shield and protect the people who were instrumental in the October 20 2020 massacre.

Lastly, should anything happen to Ebun-Ola Adegboruwa SAN, the Lagos State Govt will have the Civil Society Organization of Nigeria, the Nigerian Bar Association, the Masses, and the good and law-abiding people of ILAJE Nation to contend with. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa is a symbolic National Treasure and must be protected at whatever cost.

Fadeshola writes in from Federal Capital Territory, Abuja