Lagos Govt Suspends Planned Mass Burial For #EndSARS Victims, Gives Reasons

The Lagos State Government has announced the suspension of a planned mass burial of the 103 corpses recovered in the wake of the October 2020 #EndSARS protest.

The State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, on Monday, revealed that the reason for the suspension was because of the issues the news of the mass burial raised in July when it became public.

Recall that in a leaked memo dated July 19, 2023, the state government had said it would conduct a mass burial for the 103 corpses.

This stirred a lot of public uproar as human rights groups like Amnesty International, and the Coalition of #EndSARS Protesters and Supporters demanded that the state government should suspend the planned mass burial.

In addition to the suspension demand, Amnesty International had asked the government to “also carry out transparent coroner inquest and autopsies on the 103 #EndSARS victims.”

Giving a fresh update on the matter on Monday, the state government, through the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Mr Gboyega Akosile, told The Punch that the government would “conform to global best practices” in carrying out the mass burial.

Also, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy maintained that the planned mass burial “remains suspended to give people ample time to identify their relatives that may be among the corpses.”

Omotoso told the platform, “It is to allow more time for identification as suggested when it was disclosed that the government was planning a mass burial for them.

“Up till now, nobody has shown up to identify any of the corpses. But the government has decided to give people more time.”

He however noted that the planned burial would “be carried out 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.”