The Judicial Panel of Inquiry setup to unravel the incidence that took place at Lekki toll gate area of Lagos State on October 20, 2020 has refused the request by operators of the tollgate, Lekki Concession Company (LCC), to resume activities at the tollgate.
In a brief ruling on Tuesday, retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, Chairman of the panel, said the tollgate plaza would remain shut down.
According to the judge, the panel might need to pay subsequent visits to the tollgate plaza after watching the video footage obtained from a surveillance camera turned in by the LCC on Tuesday.
The decision followed the plea by Rotimi Seriki, counsel for LCC, for the company to take possession of the tollgate plaza to enable an evaluation of the level of damage done to the facility for the purpose pf securing insurance claims.
Managing Director of the LCC, Abayomi Omomuwa had said that fixing of the tollgate plaza would take at least six months.
Omomuwa said, “Any projection made here will just be guesswork. 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.”
Adding his voice to the plea, LCC counsel, 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.”
Ruling on the application, Justice Okuwobi while admitting that it was important for LCC to evaluate the extent of damage said that the panel will not grant access that access yet. He added that there may be need for the panel to revisit the plaza for further assessment.