On Tuesday, October 20, 2020, a very sad incident which will certainly last long in the minds of Nigerians occurred at the Lekki area of Lagos State. It was the incident of peaceful unarmed Nigerian protesters being shot at by the Nigerian Army.
After the incident, the social media space was flooded with reactions from individuals within and outside Nigeria. Even the international community expressed shock seeing that such a barbaric action could be unleashed on citizens of a county, who weren’t found guilty of any crime.
Sadly, the Nigerian government, allegedly responsible for this massacre through the Nigerian Army, has initially denied involvement in the shooting and killing.
The government in an attempt to sweep the incident under the carpet described pictures of murdered Nigerians that trended on social media as fake. It also branded reports from individuals who were live at the scene as ‘fake news.’
Even live videos were recorded to show as evidences, how men of the Nigerian Army shot directly at unarmed protesters, yet the government denied that nothing of such happened.
The most annoying of all was when the Nigerian Army, the perpetrators of the shameful act, denied being at the scene on the fateful day let alone killing anyone.
A statement by the acting Deputy Director, 81 Division Army Public Relations, Major Osoba Olaniyi, said,
“The attention of Headquarters 81 Division Nigerian Army has been drawn to a viral video on social media in which it was alleged that civilian protesters were massacred by soldiers at Lekki Toll Plaza.
“This allegation is untrue, unfounded and aimed at causing anarchy in the country. At no time did soldiers of the Nigerian Army open fire on any civilian.”
The army in that statement denied opening fire at the protesters, despite video evidences.
Also, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, denied that many people were killed at the incident. Sanwo-Olu said only two deaths were recorded and that no blood was seen at the scene.
This is the same Sanwo-Olu who at some point was seen marching with the protesters like he felt their pains. How can a governor who claimed to have stood in solidarity with the people still turn his back against the same people he claimed to stand with and betray them this much?
How could Sanwo-Olu say only two deaths were recorded from that incident and there were no blood at the scene? I had always known that Sanwo-Olu joined the protest just to pretend to be with the people and buy a good name for himself after which he thought could persuade the protesters to go back home and they would listen. Unfortunately, the dogged protesters did not fall for his gimmicks. Frustratingly, the governor imposed a curfew in the state, and allegedly had the lights at the tollgate where the protesters gathered removed just to forcefully disperse them.
However, the US-based Cable News Network, recently released a video of their investigation on the Lekki tollgate killing which the Nigerian government had denied never happened. In the video it released, men of the Nigerian Army are seen leaving their camp (Bonny Camp) at 06:29pm heading to Lekki tollgate. The report also revealed that at exactly 06:43pm, the Army released fire. In contrary to the claims of the Army that bullets were only shot into the air, the report by the CNN also confirmed how men of the Nigerian Army shot directly into the crowd. Also, in the report, Nigerian disc jockey (DJ Switch) was captured broadcasting live on Instagram. Recall that the recorded footage of DJ Switch had been termed fake by the army. Some persons had also accused DJ Switch of trying to promote anarchy and discord in the country. Well, the report by the CNN has however validated the recorded footage of DJ Switch.
Apart from DJ Switch, the army had also termed a post made by Mr. Reno Omokri on the day of the incident, as ‘fake news.’ Omokri in his post accused the Nigerian Army of shooting at innocent protesters. So Omokri’s claim was true anyways.
The investigative report also revealed that gun bullets were discovered at the scene. According to the CNN, they verified that the bullet casings were from live ammunition of mixed origin.
Also, Elisha Sunday, a brother of Mr. Victor Sunday, one of the victims of the incident was interviewed. Elisha said he was called with his brother’s phone to hear that his brother had been shot. He said he searched for his brother at different hospitals but couldn’t find him. The report also showed that Victor’s dead body was later discovered at the scene of the massacre (Lekki tollgate) which was recorded at 01:04 am. Elisha also confirmed that it was at about that time he received the news of his brother’s death. Recall again that the army had said they did not open fire at the civilians, so which bullet killed Victor?
The CNN investigation has undoubtedly exposed how evil the Nigerian government is. A government that could deny something as clear as that, really could go as far as killing its own citizens. Well, the CNN should be commended for the detailed investigation. However, the Nigerian government and the Army should with immediate effect, accept that they are responsible for the deaths at the Lekki tollgate and apologise to the deceased families and Nigerians for everything they’ve put them through. After which, the heads of the executive arm of government and Army should resign and face the consequences of their actions.
Reginald Tobin, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
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