Updated: Lekki tollgate camera stopped working at 8pm – MD tells Panel

The Managing Director, Lekki Concession Company, Abayomi Omomuwa, operator of the Lekki tollgate, said that the surveillance camera mounted by the firm on a mast at the toll plaza stopped working at 8pm on the night of October 20 when soldiers allegedly opened fire on #EndSARS protesters who converged at the tollgate gate.

Omomuwa, made this known during his appearance before the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the Lekki shootings on Tuesday.

He also submitted a video footage from the surveillance camera, which the retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel admitted as an exhibit.

Explaining why the camera stopped working, Omomuwa said, “The major cause is because of network.”

He claimed that the LCC never tampered with the surveillance camera.

“I can confirm categorically we never, ever, tampered with the surveillance camera. That is why we can get the footage. It remained there until about 8pm when it was tampered with and we couldn’t get anything anymore. It was still there but around 8pm, it stopped working,” Omomuwa said.

He also told the panel that the camera had no audio.

He said, “We did not activate the audio functionality. We essentially deployed the surveillance camera for control and management of traffic, not human movement.”

When counsel for the Lagos State Government, Mr Jelili Owonikoko (SAN), asked Omomuwa if the LCC “has been able to confirm the identity of any fatal casualty of the Lekki tollgate incident,” the MD answered in the negative.

A representative of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Collins Ogbu, who came as an observer, raised concern that Owonikoko’s questions to Omomuwa were mostly “leading questions,” stressing that there ought to have been an opposing party to cross-examine him.

Responding, Justice Okuwobi said in line with the panel’s terms of reference, anybody who felt they had any contribution that would assist the panel in its probe, including the NBA, was welcome and could cross-examine Omomuwa if they wanted.

The MD explained that LCC had two categories of cameras, which he identified as Automatic number plate recognition camera to capture and identify vehicles passing through the tollgate; and the surveillance camera, “which we call PTZ – the ‘P’ enables it (the camera) to pan or move around; the ‘T’ is to enable it to tilt, while the ‘Z’ allows the camera to zoom.”

He said earlier on October 20, when the LCC noticed that hoodlums had started pilfering some of the firm’s equipment, it had to “proactively harvest them because they are expensive,” but said the surveillance camera was not removed.

Meanwhile, the panel turned down an application by LCC to “take back possession” of the Lekki tollgate.

Omomuwa, in the course of his testimony, indicated that save for last Friday when he led the panel on a visit to the toll plaza, the place had been inaccessible to the LCC management.

Answering a question on how soon the tollgate would resume operation, Omomuwa said, “Any projection made here will just be a guess work. When we went there that day, I saw the level of damage.

“The whole tolling system is completely destroyed. It will not take anything less than six months to fix. I want to plead that they let us have access, so that we can process insurance.”

Reinforcing Omomuwa’s request, the LCC lawyer, Rotimi Seriki, said, “My humble request is that if the tribunal doesn’t have further need to visit the plaza, the LCC should be permitted to take back possession of the toll plaza for the purpose of evaluation of the damage and commence the process of carrying out necessary repairs.

But in a short ruling, Justice Okuwobi said the panel agreed that it was necessary for the LCC to go and evaluate the level of damage “but we will not grant that access yet. The need may arise for the panel to revisit.”