#ENDSARS: Lagos Panel of Inquiry is illegal — Keyamo tolls Lai Mohammed’s path
By Moses Adeniyi
As tolls of arguments continue to trail the legality of the leaked report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has described the constitution of the Panel as “illegal,” tolling the critical position of his counterpart, Minsiter of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammad who had described the report of the Panel “as a triumph of fake news.”
Keyamo who was fielding questions on Channels Sunday Politics programme on Sunday night, in response to the Federal Government’s position to the leaked report, said in his personal opinion as a “senior advocate and an inner member of the bar,” the constitution of the Panel is “illegal,” citing the Tribunals of Inquiry Act of Lagos State.
Citing the Act, he argued that the Governor only has power to inquire on any person, chieftaincy and any other matters for the good of the public within the jurisdiction of the State.
“However, any person was defined in section 21 (of the Act) to mean public officers of the State which is defined to mean public officers of Lagos State or of Local governments as the case may be,” he maintained, arguing that any of such matter must be within the legislative competence of Lagos State.
He thus, argued that the Lagos State Government has no legal jurisdiction to inquire into the activities of the Nigeria Police and the Armed Forces as institutions of the Federal Government.
“Under the constitution, it is only the Federal Government who controls the conducts of police men and the military:
“Lagos State cannot be in control. They cannot legislate too regarding Police matter.
“In other words, it is only people with which Lagos State has control that they can inquire into their conducts. If you don’t have control over me, you can’t inquire into my conduct. Policemen, Armed forces, the military, are not officers of Lagos State. They are officers of the Federal Government.
“When you begin to delve into people not under your control, it is illegal; completely illegal and no paper, no recommendation can come out of an illegal panel – nothing,” he argued.
Arguing that the Federal Government can only set up such panel to inquire on the activities of the disbanded SARS just “within the Federal Capital Territory and not beyond,” he maintained that inquiring into the conduct of the Police and the military, “no state can do that.”
Describing the entire period of the inquiries of the Panel as a waste, Keyamo said “Law is not sentiment, law is not emotion, law is law.”
Efforts to get response from the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo, SAN, for reaction to the argument proved abortive as of the time of filing this report, as calls to his phone line were not picked, nor was a text message sent to this effect returned.
Recall that Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had last week, faulted the report of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution to Investigate Cases Of Police Brutality and the Incident of Oct. 20th, 2020 At Lekki Toll Gate, arguing that the numerous errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, speculations, innuendoes, and omissions had rendered it a fable.
The Minister, who was reacting for the first time since the report was leaked on November 15, said that the report was also questionable since its conclusions were not backed by evidence.
“It is simply incredible that a judicial panel set up to investigate an incident has submitted a report laden with allegations, the same allegations it was set up to investigate in the first instance.
“Instead of sitting for all of one year, the panel could have just compiled social media ‘tales by the moonlight’ on the incident and submitted, saving taxpayers’ funds and everyone’s time.That report is nothing but the triumph of fake news and the intimidation of a silent majority by a vociferous lynch mob,” he had said.
