Drama ensured at the Lagos state Judicial Panel On Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters currently sitting at Lekki Lagos after three of the #EndSARS protesters presented themselves in court as witnesses.
The protesters identified as Victoria Oniru, Dabira Ayuku, and Perpetual Kamsiyuchukwu, were presented before the panel by their legal counsel, Adesina Ogunlana.
Before they were presented before the panel, a lawyer to the Lagos state government, I. J Okechukwu, opposed the presentation of #EndSARS protesters before the panel, arguing that #EndSARS is not a legal entity and its faceless.
“There is no entity called “EndSARS protesters. My learned friend is entitled to represent anybody that is known to law. We cannot have anybody appearing for a body that is not known to law, no leader, no structure. EndSARS protesters is a nebulous entity,” said Okechukwu
Rotimi Seriki, counsel for the Lekki Concession Company, (LLC), aligned with the government lawyer. He also said the LCC was not an “interested party” in the matter but invited because “the panel that feels it might have relevant evidence to assist it. We cannot allow every Tom, Dick, and Harry to represent,” he concluded.
Ogunlana retorted that he did not just appear at the panel without prior instruction of his clients. He went on to call out three persons, whom he said were part of protesters and had hired him to represent them.
“I am not representing spirits or ghosts. We’re here, to tell the truth. These are part of the people running underground being threatened,” Ogunlana said in response to the objection by Owonikoko and Seriki.
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