Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has called on the Federal and Lagos State Governments to issue an unreserved public apology and provide justice and reparations to victims of the October 20, 2020, #EndSARS protests.
The organisation made the call on Monday, October 19, 2026, ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Lekki Toll Gate shootings, demanding official acknowledgement of the killings, injuries and other abuses recorded during the nationwide demonstrations against police brutality.
The statement signed by the Media and Communications Officer, Robert Egbe, CAPPA said the government must address the legacy of the protests through independent prosecutions, comprehensive reparations and structural police reforms.
It also urged political parties and aspirants to make justice for #EndSARS victims a non-negotiable commitment in their campaigns ahead of the 2027 general elections.
CAPPA said the tragedy of #EndSARS lay in the fact that a civic movement organised to resist police brutality was crushed by the same state violence it sought to end.
CAPPA Faults Government Over Lekki Toll Gate Shootings
The #EndSARS protests began as a nationwide movement against police brutality, particularly abuses by the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
Public outrage intensified on October 3, 2020, following a viral video showing SARS operatives shooting a young man outside Wetland Hotel in Ughelli, Delta State, before driving away in his car.
The footage triggered demonstrations across the country, with protesters demanding accountability, an end to police brutality and respect for human rights.
In her remarks, CAPPA’s Assistant Executive Director, Zikora Ibeh, said a peaceful protest against police brutality was met with bullets, while the government compounded the violence by disputing victims’ experiences.
She maintained that an unreserved apology must begin with the government’s acceptance of responsibility, acknowledgement of the abuses committed and prosecution of those responsible.
CAPPA recalled that the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, in its 309-page report, described the crackdown as a “massacre in context”, directly indicting the Nigerian Army and police over the deaths and serious injuries of peaceful demonstrators.
The organisation criticised both federal and state authorities over their responses to the findings, noting that the Federal Government dismissed the panel’s conclusions, while the Lagos State Government issued a White Paper disputing its casualty records.
Group Demands Implementation of ECOWAS Court Ruling
CAPPA also highlighted the July 2024 judgment of the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice, which found Nigeria liable for violating protesters’ fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, as well as freedom from torture.
The regional court ordered financial compensation for victims and fresh, independent investigations into the violations.
CAPPA called for the full and prompt implementation of the judgment, alongside the publication of a transparent report detailing the government’s compliance.
CAPPA Demands Justice for Journalist Pelumi Onifade
The organisation also called for the conclusion of criminal proceedings over the death of Pelumi Onifade, a 20-year-old journalist who was covering protest-related events in Lagos in October 2020.
Onifade was attacked and arrested by personnel of the Lagos State Task Force on October 24, 2020, while reporting at the Ministry of Agriculture Abattoir complex in Oko-Oba, Agege.
Four days earlier, on October 20, he had filmed political figure Abiodun Bolarinwa firing live rounds at unarmed #EndSARS demonstrators in the Abule Egba area of Lagos.
According to CAPPA, an official autopsy confirmed that Onifade died from a fatal gunshot wound to his lower torso. Although the finding was documented in late 2020, the organisation said it was not formally presented until proceedings before the coroner’s court in 2026.
CAPPA demanded the immediate prosecution of the Task Force personnel and commanding officers responsible for his death.
Survivors Still Bear Physical and Emotional Scars
CAPPA said its investigative publication, Lies and the Hail of Bullets: #EndSARS—The Story of Lekki Shootings by Survivors, documented the experiences of victims and the impact of the violence on their families and livelihoods.
The organisation noted that prolonged official denial and intimidation had deepened disillusionment among young Nigerians who believed collective democratic action could bring about change.
It added that some participants had been forced into hiding or painful self-exile, while survivors continued to live with physical injuries and emotional trauma without adequate government support.
CAPPA Links #EndSARS Concerns to #EndBadGovernance Protests
The organisation said the factors that triggered the #EndSARS protests remained unresolved, pointing to what it described as a continuing pattern of repression against peaceful demonstrations.
It cited the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests, during which Nigerians, including minors, took to the streets over economic hardship and governance failures.
According to CAPPA, security forces responded with tear gas, arbitrary arrests and lethal force, resulting in at least 24 deaths documented across the country.
Ibeh warned that government policies that deepen hardship, combined with security forces’ attacks on citizens who object, deprive people of both a decent life and the means to demand one.
She stressed that protest and free speech remained essential democratic tools for ordinary citizens confronting entrenched power, adding that no government earned democratic legitimacy by frightening its people into silence.
Group Raises Alarm Over Police Abuses in Imo
CAPPA also drew attention to alleged abuses at Tiger Base, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Imo State Police Command in Owerri.
The organisation cited reports of torture, extrajudicial executions, extortion and prolonged arbitrary detention, describing them as evidence of the persistent culture of police violence in Nigeria.
On proposals for the establishment of state police, CAPPA warned that decentralising policing would not, on its own, resolve the country’s security challenges.
It argued that without addressing impunity, state police structures could create additional instruments of coercion at the subnational level rather than protect vulnerable citizens.
The organisation said meaningful reform required political will to change whom law enforcement serves, regulate the use of force and ensure swift criminal consequences for officers who abuse their authority.
CAPPA Outlines Reparations and Police Reform Measures
To address the legacy of #EndSARS, CAPPA called for a transparent national programme of acknowledgement, justice and reparations, developed in collaboration with victims’ families, survivors, human rights and media-rights groups, civil society organisations and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The proposed programme, it said, should include the prosecution of implicated officers, payment of outstanding compensation and sustained medical and psychological rehabilitation for survivors.
CAPPA also called on authorities to drop all outstanding charges against people prosecuted solely for participating in peaceful protests, including the #EndBadGovernance demonstrations.
It further proposed that the Lekki Toll Gate be formally designated a national historic memorial site.
To strengthen police accountability, the organisation advocated mandatory body-worn cameras for frontline police officers, with secure and independently supervised storage of recordings.
It said recordings should be accessible for lawful investigations, while officers found deliberately deactivating cameras or tampering with footage should face penalties.
CAPPA also called for prompt and transparent investigations into allegations of misconduct, with disciplinary sanctions and criminal prosecution for security personnel found culpable.
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