How 99 Persons Were Killed During #EndSARS Protests — LASUTH Pathologist

The autopsy results of 99 people murdered during the #EndSARS protests in Lagos have been submitted to the state judicial panel of inquiry by John Obafunwa, Chief Pathologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

Since soldiers raided the Lekki tollgate and fired shots at #EndSARS demonstrators on October 20, 2020, there has been a disagreement over the casualty counts, according to NEWS DIRECT.

Between October 20 and 24, 99 bodies were received for autopsy, according to Obafunwa, who spoke at the judicial panel’s hearing on June 6.

He claimed three of the 99 bodies were brought in from Lekki, with the rest coming from Surulere, Ikorodu, Ajah, and Fagba, among other places in the state.

Obafunwa was subsequently given the task of presenting the reports to the panel.

According to the PUNCH, Obafunwa testified at the panel on Saturday, saying the 99 dead were deposited at the mortuary between October 19 and October 24, 2020, including three slain at the Lekki tollgate.

The ethical procedure, according to Obafunwa, is to do an x-ray before putting a knife to a body, especially in a mass disaster or a circumstance where all sorts of possibilities occur.

He said: “You need to look for hidden fractures or prosthesis. It will help if such is discovered because it will be circumstantial evidence to make you say that this body belongs to this person.

“We need to avoid sensationalism. If you look at a page in the report I submitted, all I did was to summarise. However, if I do an autopsy and I do not do radiography, you would tear me to pieces if I come to court with such a record. That is why I had to do everything, leaving nothing to chance.”

Chair of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi (rtd), ruled that the records presented be accepted as evidence and adjourned further hearing till June 26.