Authorities in Nigeria's Lagos state say they are planning a mass burial for 103 people linked to anti-police protests more than two years ago.
The number of victims of the October 2020 protests has been a source of dispute. The latest figure is much higher than previously reported. The protests had shaken the country and prompted police reforms.
Activists had accused security forces of opening fire on demonstrators at the popular Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos city killing a number of protesters.
In December 2021, Lagos state rejected claims that security forces carried out a "massacre" of unarmed protesters, maintaining only one person suffered a gunshot wound during the protests.
The news of the planned mass burial came after an official letter of the arrangement leaked on Sunday with some local media claiming the victims might be those allegedly killed by security forces at the Lekki Toll Gate.
Allegations rejected
But the Lagos state government issued a statement on Sunday evening clarifying that those to be buried were not victims from that scene.
They were bodies retrieved from other parts of the city that had also seen violence, ''and NOT from the Lekki Toll Gate as being inferred in the mischievous publications,'' the government said.
''It is public knowledge that the year 2020 #EndSARS crisis that snowballed into violence in many parts of Lagos recorded casualties in different areas of the State,'' Dr Olusegun Ogboye, Permanent Secretary at the Lagos State Ministry of Health said in the statement.
''The Lagos State Environmental Health Unit (SEHMU) picked up bodies in the aftermath of #EndSARS violence and community clashes at Fagba, Ketu, Ikorodu, Orile, Ajegunle, Abule-Egba, Ikeja, Ojota, Ekoro, Ogba, Isolo and Ajah areas of Lagos State, including a jailbreak at Ikoyi Prison,'' he added.
Unclaimed bodies
''The 103 casualties mentioned in the document were from these incidents and NOT from Lekki Toll-gate as being alleged. For the avoidance of doubt, no body was retrieved from the Lekki Toll Gate incident,'' Ogboye said.
It is still unclear when exactly the burials will take place, but some Nigerians are asking questions as to why it took nearly three years to bury the bodies.
The authorities have responded saying ''after almost three years, the bodies remain unclaimed, adding to the congestion of the morgues. This spurred the need to decongest the morgues - a procedure that follows very careful medical and legal guidelines in the event that a relative may still turn up to claim a lost relative years after the incident.''
