#EndSARs: Why victims’ names were duplicated in report — Adegboruwa

Lagos lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN), has stated that the duplication of names on list of casualties in the EndSARs report was as a result of a computer error.

Adegboruwa, a members of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, said this in a statement he issued on Thursday.

He said the state could have reached out to members for clarification where necessary.

He said: “The chairperson, all panel members and indeed the secretariat of the Panel were all within the reach of the LASG for clarifications if there was sincerity, other than picking holes in order to evade responsibility on account of computer errors and tabular alignments of cut and paste.”

He also said the duplication of names on its list of casualties was as a result of a computer error, adding that they considered several dictionary definitions of the word “massacre” before it was used.

In his words: “This was a misnomer from the spreadsheet that ought to have terminated at Page 297 but mistakenly overlapped to Page 298 with the same names and same numbers,” the panel said.

“It was the computer error of the secretariat of the panel which could have been corrected as the secretariat of the panel was domiciled in the ministry of justice at all times.

“In any event, the mere fact of repetition of same names on a table cannot without more, nullify the uncontroverted evidence of death.

“The panel considered several definitions of the word MASSACRE and adopted one of the dictionary meanings of MASSACRE as being ‘the act or instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty’.

“The Panel considered that firing live bullets at unarmed, peaceful and unresisting protesters which led to the death of some of them, was cruel and atrocious on the part of the military and the police. The White Paper ignored these explanations and findings by the Panel.”