Nigerian judicial panel condemns 2020 Lekki toll gate shooting as 'a massacre'

(CNN)Lethal violence committed by Nigeria's military on the night of October 20, 2020 could be considered a "massacre," a government-appointed panel concluded Monday -- contradicting previous official accounts of the incident.

The Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution at the Lagos Court of Arbitration had been charged with investigating last year's notorious Lekki toll gate shooting in Lagos, when Nigerian security forces opened fire on young people protesting peacefully against alleged police brutality.

Its bombshell report -- which took more than a year to produce -- accuses Nigerian Army officers of having "shot, injured and killed unarmed helpless and defenseless protesters, without provocation or justification, while they were waving the Nigerian Flag and singing the national anthem and the manner of assault and killing could in context be described as a massacre."

The panel also found "the conduct of the Nigerian Army was exacerbated by its refusal to allow ambulances render medical assistance to victims who required such assistance. The Army was also found not to have adhered to its own Rules of Engagement."

The panel's report underscores and repeatedly references previous reporting by CNN, which used time stamps, video data, and geolocation last year to analyze hours of video filmed by protesters.

CNN's investigation found the Nigerian army fired live rounds into crowds at Lekki toll gate, killing and wounding several people. Multiple witnesses also told CNN last year that ambulances were prevented from entering the site to help wounded protesters.

Despite an abundance of video evidence, the Nigerian government has long denied that protesters were shot. Last month, on the one-year anniversary of the shooting, Nigeria's Minister of Information Alhaji Lai Mohammed described the incident as a "phantom massacre" and continued to dismiss CNN's investigation as fake news.

The government and military did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the judicial panel's Monday report, which cites CNN dozens of times.

However, Lagos Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said the Lagos state government would implement the panel's recommendations, according to local media.

"This will help in proper restitution and compensation for everyone who must have been wronged. I want to assure you, a white paper will be issued. I am going to constitute a committee to review the document between two weeks and bring out a white paper," Sanwo-Olu said, according to the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.

Around 70 victims of police brutality have been awarded a total of 410 million naira (around $1 million) as compensation, the chairperson of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi, was quoted in a statement released by Lagos State government Monday.

What happened

Ahead of the bloody events at Lekki toll gate last year, demonstrators had been taking part in daily protests across Nigeria for nearly two weeks over widespread claims of kidnapping, harassment and extortion by a police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

The shooting on October 20 would ultimately quash Nigeria's fledgling youth protest movement, known as #EndSARS.