The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters was established by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in October 2020, in compliance with the directive of the National Economic Council that each state constitute such a panel. It was chaired by retired Justice Doris Okuwobi of the Lagos State High Court, with members drawn from civil society, the legal profession, and youth representatives who had been active in the #EndSARS protests. The panel sat for over a year, receiving petitions, hearing evidence from victims, reviewing CCTV footage, and receiving testimony from military and police officers.
The Okuwobi Panel's most consequential inquiry was into the events at the Lekki Toll Gate on the night of 20 October 2020—the moment that crystallised international attention on the #EndSARS protests. The Nigerian Army's 81 Division had deployed soldiers to the toll gate, where thousands of peaceful protesters had gathered nightly for days. Eyewitness accounts, video footage from a journalist on scene, and satellite footage corroborated that soldiers fired live rounds into the crowd after lights at the venue were switched off. The panel's final report, submitted on 15 November 2021, established on the preponderance of evidence that 11 persons were killed at the Lekki Toll Gate, 12 were injured, and one person remained missing. It characterised the incident as 'a massacre' and found the soldiers' deployment and use of live ammunition unlawful. It recommended a formal government apology, payment of compensation to the families of the dead and the injured, the identification and prosecution of officers who gave the order to deploy live rounds, and dismissal of officers directly involved.
The report was leaked to Reuters on 15 November 2021, one day before its official presentation to the Governor. The Lagos State government initially contested the 'massacre' characterisation, and Governor Sanwo-Olu acknowledged 'avoidable deaths' while stopping short of adopting the panel's full language. The government accepted some compensation recommendations and set up a ₦200 million restitution fund. However, no soldiers were prosecuted, and the Nigerian Army maintained that its soldiers fired only blank rounds—a claim directly contradicted by the panel's ballistic evidence findings. The report stands as the most authoritative official account of the Lekki Toll Gate incident.