Thread by @RayNkah

Let's face it: there is no logical or legal justification for embarking on #OccupyLekkiTollGate based on the ruling of the @LagosSarsPanel releasing the toll gate to its managers.

In the context of the ugly events of 20.10.10, the lekki toll plaza was a crime scene. And like all crime scenes, ought to be treated accordingly. In crime management and investigation, the purpose of a crime scene is to control, preserve, record and recover evidence from the...

…scene of an accident or crime. Usually, this is embarked upon by forensic experts who after the detailed evaluation of the scene of the crime, & issuance of a final survey or report, RELEASES the crime scene to the owners, & takes the report to the court in aid of prosecution.

It is generally unknown for the scene of a crime to be locked out ad infinitum, or for the duration of the prosecution of the persons indicted in the crime as being canvassed by those who oppose the majority ruling of the panel, & now preparing for #OccupyLekkiTollGate.

As with many legal principles, this general rule on management of crime scene, is not without its exception. Thus, there are instances where a crime scene could be locked out for the duration of the criminal proceedings as the Chairman of the Panel articulated in the ruling.

All forensic analysis of the Lekki Toll plaza having been concluded and due to be tendered in the proceedings as an exhibit, to the knowledge of the relevant parties, there is no any justifiable reason to keep the owners of the plaza from accessing it IMO.

I have heard the argument that since the forensic report was yet to be put in evidence, there was no reason to have released the toll. This argument, with respect, is non-sequitur. The purpose of the analysis is not to indict the LCC, which is not a party before the panel...

...but rather to provide ample evidence to the panel in aid of its determination of the issues before it. The merits of the report therefore, has nothing to do with the rights of LCC over the toll gate. This is all the more so, as LCC was a subpoenaed witness at the panel.

To my mind, the course of action open to counsel for the petitioners at the panel, would be to impugn the integrity of the forensic report (which is already frontloaded before the panel), when it is sought to be officially tendered as an exhibit by the forensic expert.

Being a quasi-criminal tribunal with relaxed rules of evidence, there is no reason why the said report would not be officially received in evidence particularly when it was sequel to the order of the panel to assist it in the discharge of its Terms of Reference.

What I have been laboring to say is that, upon conclusion of the forensic evaluation of a crime scene as is the case in the instant case, the purposes of withholding it, becomes spent per force. This is to my mind, what informed the panel's ruling the other day, having refused...

...three earlier applications by the counsel to the LCC, on the ground that the forensic examination of the facility is yet to be concluded. As an impartial arbiter, having cognized the said report, the equity of the case weighed in favor of a release order.

#OccupyLekkiTollGate

By the logic of those against re-opening of the toll gate, if a certain facility becomes a scene of crime, it must remain under lock and key for the duration of any proceedings in respect of that crime even after the conclusion of forensic evaluation. Wonders shall never end!

It is all the more hypocritical that those who have advanced this argument on the ground that human lives were lost at the plaza on that dark day of our history, have themselves abused & prostituted the same vaunted crime scene between October and now in a show of faux morality!

That, however, is the underbelly of their suppositions.

To achieve lasting justice for the purposes of our patriots who died on that fateful day, I think it is meet that we find the courage to repose confidence in the very difficult and solemn mandate of the panel.

Granting assess to an entity (which is not a party before it, but rather subpoenaed to assist it in its work) to take over their facility which was brutally vandalized for purposes of repair and commencement of business does not make it a compromised panel as alleged unabashedly.

If however, it is the case that continuous tolling of the toll gates has become economically unbearable to Nigerians, giving the harsh economic realities of the times, then let us agitate in that regard. Anchoring on a single ruling of the panel to embark on #OccupyLekkiTollGate

when its task is yet to be fully concluded, would not only be overreaching, but smack of unbridled arrogance and sheer presumptuousness.
END

#OccupyLekkiTollGate
#OccupyLekkiTollGate
@threadreaderapp please unroll.