Lagos Releases White Paper On Civil Disturbance At Lekki

BEVERLY HILLS, April 24, (THEWILL) – The Lagos State government has released a White Paper on the report of the tribunal of inquiry into causes of civil disturbances at the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) which claimed the life of Tajudeen Disu, who, at the time was the Managing Director of Lekki Worldwide Limited.

According to a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, the state has accepted most of the recommendations of the tribunal, including a directive that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase be requested to take over investigation into the killing of Disu who died from gunshot during the Lekki civil unrest.

The directive, according to Ayorinde, became imperative owing to the need to resolve the mystery surrounding Disu’s killing as leaders of the Okunraye community, where Disu was murdered on October 12, 2015, had claimed that he was killed by a stray bullet from mobile policemen attached to the area, while the police denied the allegation.

The state government, in the White Paper, also directed the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives to ensure that all outstanding compensation issues were resolved as soon as possible and directed that the resettlement committee be constituted in line with the provisions of the memorandum of understanding to enable it perform satisfactorily.

“A LFTZ peace and security committee comprising of the police and representatives of investors of the affected villages be constituted to receive complaints from any party in the zone and will also have further responsibility of taking action to resolve issues referred to, as spelt out in the memorandum of understanding,” it said.

The state also accepted the recommendation of the tribunal that under no circumstance should payments, irrespective of how insignificant it is, be paid in cash, adding that all payments should be by cheque, duly receipted by the payee in a format that carries the said payee's name, picture and signature.

THEWILL recalls that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had on October 22, 2015 constituted a six-member tribunal of inquiry headed by retired judge of the Lagos High Court, Justice Adesuyi Olateru-Olagbegi to inquire into the remote and immediate causes surrounding the public disorder at the LFTZ on October 12, 2015 in which Disu died.