The Federal Government has come under fire for denying involvement in the massacre of innocent persons at Lekki Tollgate during #ENDSARS protests.
In a 309-page report submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Monday November 15, Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel, however, indicted soldiers and implicated Nigeria’s security agents in the “killing and forced disappearances of harmless and unarmed youths protesting at Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020.”
This was contrary to the hard stance of Lai Mohammed, minister of information that nobody was killed at the tollgate after soldiers invaded the Lekki tollgate in Lagos on October 20, 2020, during the #EndSARS protests and shot at protesters.
In the past one year, Mohammed has consistently disputed the report that protesters died at the tollgate, while attacking international organisations that reported the killings by the Nigerian Army.
Reactions by Nigerians
But, some Nigerians have thrown backlash on the government based on the report of report of the Lagos State Inquiry on the Lekki tollgate shooting that blamed soldiers for the wanton killings of civilians.
Reacting, Reno Omokri wrote ”Can everybody who doubted and insulted me when I said that the Satellite Sentinel Project was able to prove that the Nigerian Army, under the DIRECT command of Buratai and Buhari, killed innocent, peaceful, and unarmed protesters during the #EndSARS #LekkiMassacre now apologise to me?
Omokri, a one-time presidential aide to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan remarked ‘’Go back and watch or listen to my video on the very day the massacre occurred. The Lagos State Panel on SARS has vindicated me. Muhammadu Buhari, as long as I am alive, you will retire to prison, not to Daura. Cowardly man like you that only has balls when you have a gun. Murderer. Olodo without WAEC! May God punish you and Buratai!”
Reacting to the report via Twitter, DJ Switch, the entertainer, stated that those behind the act shattered many lives and also tried to destroy hers. She added that what the perpetrators tried to hide, has also been made public by them.
Media personality, Frank Edoho described those who alleged that DJ Switch had the resources to doctor a live Instagram video as liars.
Pointing out that George Lucas’ company, Industrial Light and Magic does VFX (Visual effects) for recorded effects, he added that the liars among us are the ones who need to hang their heads in crying shame.
The lawyer who represented EndSARS protesters at the Lagos state Panel of Inquiry on the October 20, 2020 Lekki tollgate shooting, has vowed to prostrate in public to the chairman of the panel, Justice Doris Okwuobi, anytime and anywhere he sees her for the next five years.
Reacting to the recent development via his Facebook page, Ogunlana wrote ”IMPORTANT PUBLIC NOTICE:
I hereby serve Justice Doris Okuwobi alias MAMA KOSELERI PANEL this NOTICE :
For this next 5 years Ma , any time I jam you for road , titi , corridor, anywhere , na FULL YORUBA IDOBALE ( prostration) I shall be giving you ! SO HELP ME GOD ! It doesnt matter if you feel embarrassed! Na my body dey ground Ma !”
Also, comedian Mr Macaroni has reacted to Lagos judicial panel’s report confirming killing of protesters at Lekki toll gate.
Mr Macaroni who shared part of the report which alleged that some victims of Lekki toll gate incident were unwilling to be identified publicly for fear or persecution and harassment by security agencies and the government, stated that those that defended the barbaric act should know that there will be a day of reckoning.
Maintaining that the truth will always prevail, the comedian added that those that have been speaking the truth have been saying the same thing till this day while government representatives and supporters have allegedly been moving from one lie to another and now allegedly fighting themselves.
Minister Lai Mohammed’s denials of the massacre
Recall that in November 2020, the minister attacked DJ Switch, a disc jockey, who filmed the army shooting #EndSARS protesters at Lekki tollgate, saying she will soon be “exposed for who she is.”
Lai, who described the disc jockey as a “purveyor of fake news,” questioned her motive for saying protesters were killed by the army, which he said was “suspicious.”
“One of the purveyors of fake news was one DJ Switch which real name is Obianuju Catherine Udeh, even though she claimed authentic evidence of mass killings. Surprisingly, instead of presenting whatever evidence she may have, she chose to escape from the country on the claim that her life was in danger,” the minister had said.
Again, in November 2020, the information minister said the report of CNN on the Lekki shooting “did not just fall short of journalistic standards but reinforces the disinformation that is going around on the issue.”
The minister, in the letter written to CNN, said the international platform left out video which could have shown that “armed hoodlums invaded the Lekki Toll Gate that night, and could have hit any of the protesters as they shot sporadically.”
“This is clearly a ploy by the CNN reporter/presenter to manipulate viewers of its ‘investigative’ report and force them to draw the reporter’s desired conclusion,” the minister wrote.
In January, the information minister asked Amnesty International (AI) to show proof of the 12 people killed during the shooting at the Lekki tollgate or “shut up.”
Mohammed said the human rights organisation was gradually losing credibility, and asked AI to come out with evidence of the people killed by the military.
Again, in February 2021, the information minister said nobody has come forward to provide evidence of those killed at Lekki tollgate.
Mohammed described the report of killings at the Lekki tollgate as “fake news and unverified social media reports.”
During the first anniversary of the Lekki tollgate shooting in October, the information minister, in a press briefing, said there is no proof that any protester was killed at the Lekki tollgate, last year.
The minister described the incident at the tollgate as a “phantom massacre,” saying it is the “first massacre in the world without blood or bodies.”
“One year later, and despite ample opportunities for the families of those allegedly killed and those alleging a massacre to present evidence, there has been none: No bodies, no families, no convincing evidence, nothing,” the minister had said.
“Where are the families of those who were reportedly killed at the toll gate? Did they show up at the Judicial Panel of Inquiry? If not, why?”
