I was abled to pried open the panel using a very flat putty knife, carefully not to exert much force going upward so to not break the plugs. Two plugs on each side of the panel were loosening giving me room to see the opening inside where the bolt from the handler was located. I had to remove the relay on the left side to give myself enough to use a 8mm open end socket to loosen the nut from the bolt. Got it done and repeat the whole process backwards with the new replacement trunk/lift handler. Job is done.