A rights group, the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), has accused the Federal Government of dishonesty in resolving the impasse surrounding the Lekki shooting of #EndSARS protesters.

It called for an independent, transparent, impartial and effective investigation to unravel the truth and ensure justice in the shootings.

In a statement signed by Okechukwu Nwanguma, its Executive Director, the group said that the Federal Government has never been sincere in its expressed commitment to dialogue with the EndSARS protesters.

According to RULAAC, “All what you hear in the guise of calling for dialogue is mere posturing. But no one following events in this country or familiar with the ways of this government should be surprised.

“It has always been their usual ways of deceit: pretend to be committed to dialogue but planning mischief.

“How can you set up a panel to look into the issues raised by #EndSARS protesters and the aftermaths of the protests; you also have members of the group represented in the panel, yet you go ahead to freeze their bank accounts.”

The statement further noted: “That is the true nature and character of this government. Deceit, insincerity, lip service to everything, treachery and incompetence. This was exactly why the protesters took all the promises by government with a pinch of salt and insisted on seeing concrete action before they would back down. Then the government deployed deadly violence to suppress the protests.

“Look at the contradictions, the initial denials, then admission and then the buck passing between the army and the Lagos State government over who ordered the military deployment to the toll gate and over who fired the killer shots. It shows you how cowardly, how insensitive and how clueless some of these characters in government are.

“I already made the point elsewhere that considering the apparent complicity of the Lagos State governor in the Lekki massacre, that subject matter can no longer be part of the terms of reference or issues to be inquired into by the judicial panel of inquiry set up by the governor,” the statement affirmed.

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