On October 20, 2020, exactly two years ago, shootings at the Lekki Tollgate that were purportedly carried out by the Nigerian Army to suppress young demonstrations against police brutality sent the entire nation into sadness.
Recall that in October 2020, youths all over Nigeria organised a national protest against the extrajudicial killings carried out by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which has since been abolished.
On October 20, 2020, at around 6:50 p.m., Nigerian Army officers allegedly opened fire on unarmed demonstrators gathered at the Lekki Tollgate, killing a number of unwitting bystanders.
Following the event, Amnesty International reported that the Nigerian military had murdered at least 12 demonstrators.
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The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu, originally rejected reports of any casualties a day after the incident, on October 21, but later acknowledged in an interview with a CNN journalist that only two people were murdered.
The Federal administration, which is led by President Muhammadu Buhari, had also asserted that there was not a single piece of evidence to support any protester’s death at the tollgate.
James Idoko, an on-air personality, bemoaned the government’s insistence that there were no killings at the Lekki Tollgate in the face of video evidence.
The worst thing that has ever occurred to this country, he claimed, is the APC regime. First off, they disregard human life and act anyway they choose. The Lekki massacre’s orchestration has been proven to be true by the manner the government is handling the current state of unrest. They have no regard for life.
These ancient people continue to maintain it never happened even after CNN and other foreign media outlets disclosed that people were massacred in that incident. Awful government, I pray that the spirits of the slain heroes will remain in the Lord’s rest.
Some of the Lekki Tollgate employees ought to have been detained, according to Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA
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He claimed that individuals who planned the shooting intentionally removed the CCTV camera from Lekki Tollgate, claiming that this act alone constituted a public offence.
Operators of the Lekki Tollgate, he added, did what they did by turning off the CCTV camera, and they were caught doing it on camera. That alone is a public offence. And no charges have yet been brought against the perpetrators.
Even though video footage showed that many Nigerians were killed in that incident, the government and military have not openly acknowledged that deaths occurred.
“There are a lot of questions regarding the Lekki incident that the government is yet to answer. But we believe that one day, there will be a government that will want accountability because even if it takes a hundred years, a crime committed cannot be washed off.
“Those who are in government today, if they think that they are going to escape it, they are making a lot of mistakes. Some of the panels that were set up after the incident did well but not excellent because so many victims of police brutality were not compensated.”
