Judicial Panel Rejects LCC’s Request to take Over Lekki Toll Plaza

The Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the alleged shootings of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers has rejected the request by the operators of the Lekki Toll Plaza, Lekki Concession Company (LCC), to take back possession of the toll plaza.

The Chairman of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry, Justice Doris Okuwobi (rtd), in a short ruling on Tuesday, said the tollgate plaza would remain closed.

She stated that the Panel may require to undertake another visit to the toll plaza after watching the video footage from a surveillance camera submitted by the LCC on Tuesday.

Earlier, Counsel for LCC, Rotimi Seriki, had pleaded with the panel to allow the firm “take possession” of the toll plaza in order to evaluate the level of damage for the purpose of insurance claims.

Seriki reinforced an earlier request made at the proceeding last Friday by the LCC Managing Director, Abayomi Omomuwa, who noted that the toll plaza has been inaccessible to the LCC management.

Seriki said, “My humble request is that if the tribunal doesn’t have further need to visit the plaza, the LCC should be permitted to take back possession of the toll plaza for the purpose of evaluation of the damage and commence the process of carrying out necessary repairs.”

Omomuwa had told members of the Judicial Panel, “From what I saw during today’s (last Friday) visit, the level of damage is so much, it will take LCC not less than six months to fix the tollgate plaza,”

Responding to a question on how soon the toll plaza would resume operation, the LCC boss said, “Any projection made here will just be guesswork. When we went there that day, I saw the level of damage. The whole tolling system is completely destroyed. It will not take anything less than six months to fix.

“I want to plead that they let us have access so that we can process insurance.”

Ruling on the request to take over possession, Justice Okuwobi said the panel agreed that it was necessary for LCC to go and evaluate the level of damage “but we will not grant that access yet. The need may arise for the panel to revisit.”

The panel chairman encouraged LCC to make the application after the panel must have watched the video footage submitted by the firm.