…Plans Mass Burial to Decongest Mortuaries
By Udesinanna Stephen
Following an uproar that befell a letter by the Lagos State Government
about a purported mass burial plan for casualties of the 2020 EndSARS incident, the government says some individuals misinterpreted the letter to disrupt the peace of Lagos, that the bodies are not from Lekki Toll-gate protest, and the mass burial is to free Lagos state mortuaries.
This was revealed in a press statement signed by the Lagos state government Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Health, Dr Olusegun Ogboye and published on the state Twitter handle @followlasg.
Olusegun said, “Peddlers of the news are deliberately misinterpreting and sensationalizing a letter from the Lagos State Government Public Procurement Agency titled: Letter of No Objection – Mass Burial for the 103, the Year 2020 ENDSARS victims, to misinform the public, stir public sentiment and cause public disaffection against the Lagos State Government.
“For the records, the Lagos State Environmental Health Unit (SEHMU) picked up bodies in the aftermath of #EndSARS violence and community clashes at Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo and Ajah areas of Lagos State, including a jailbreak at Ikoyi Prison. The 103 casualties mentioned in the document were from these incidents and NOT from Lekki Toll-gate as being alleged. For the avoidance of doubt, nobody was retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate incident.” He noted.
He said after nearly three years, the bodies remain unclaimed, leading to the congestion of the morgues, which called for mass burial to decongest the morgues. “Decongestion of our public morgues is a periodic and regular exercise approved by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to free up space in mortuaries that have a large number of unclaimed bodies.” He added.
