Amnesty International has blamed the Nigerian Army over the Lekki shooting that left some ENDSARS protesters dead and many injured.
The right group Wednesday published an investigation which it had tracked Nigerian army vehicles from their Lagos barracks at Bonny Camp to Lekki Toll Gate using photographs and videos of the soldiers’ movements culled from social media.
“What happened at Lekki Toll Gate has all the traits of the Nigerian authorities’ pattern of a cover-up,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty’s Nigeria head.
A Lagos-based soldier, who declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to media, told Reuters troops of the army 81st Division’s 65th Battalion, based at Bonny Camp, had fired on unarmed civilians at the toll gate.
After series of denials, the Nigerian Army has finally admitted its soldiers were involved in the assault on protesters in Lekki, Lagos State on the 20th of October 2020.
In what appears to be a blame game, the Army says it did not act alone, but got involved at the invitation of the Lagos State Government, after a 24-hour curfew was imposed by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
A statement signed by the Acting Deputy Director of the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Major Osoba Olaniyi says their involvement was as a result of the violence which led to several police stations being burnt, policemen killed and suspects in police custody released with weapons carted away.
The statement adds that it was at this point that the “Lagos State Government requested for the military to intervene in order to restore normalcy” and that the military followed all laid down procedures for internal security operations”
The division, however, insists that at no time did soldiers open fire on any civilian and says the viral video on social media alleging that civilians were killed by the military is untrue and aimed at causing anarchy in the country.
This is coming barely a week after the Defence Headquarters, categorically denied that its personnel were at the scene of the incident. Spokesperson Major-General John Enenche in the media briefing last week Tuesday went further to allude that the videos showing soldiers could have been photoshopped.
But speaking to CNN on Tuesday, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu admitted that the shooting of protesters was carried out by soldiers based on the footage from the incident.
The Governor, however, disputed eyewitness accounts that dead bodies were taken away by the uniformed men, saying no one is yet to make any claim that a relative who was at the scene of the shooting on the 20th of October is missing. (AIT)
