Media personality Morayo Afolabi-Brown has recounted how she and her colleagues narrowly escaped death when hoodlums attacked and set fire to the old Television Continental (TVC) building in Lagos during the 2020 #EndSARS protests.
Afolabi-Brown shared the experience on her Morayo TV show, uploaded on Tuesday, while reflecting on her time as host of TVC’s morning programme, Your View, following her resignation from TVC Communications.
She recalled encouraging her colleagues to speak openly about the protests during a live broadcast the day after the Lekki massacre, despite the potential risks.
Afolabi-Brown said: “I said, guys, tomorrow might be our very last day ever to do the interview. I want you to give it your all. You say it as you feel it. You speak the pulse of the people.”
According to her, four female presenters were scheduled to participate in the programme, but two could not attend physically because they were on the Island.
She and her colleague, Tope, went to the studio from the mainland, while the other presenters joined remotely.
She said they were discussing the issues surrounding the protests when hoodlums stormed the building and began setting it ablaze.
“And we spoke truth to power on that day, the very next morning.
“And it was while we were speaking that thugs came out to burn down the building. Myself, Tope, the crew, we were all in the building,” she said.
Afolabi-Brown recalled that communication with the control room suddenly stopped as the attack unfolded, leaving her unsure of what was happening until someone alerted her that the attackers had entered the building.
“Hello, hello. Nobody was talking to me. ‘Morayo, they are in the building.’ That was the last thing I heard in my ears,” she said.
The programme was cut short as the presenters and other staff members tried to find a way out of the studio.
However, when they attempted to open the door, they discovered that the attackers had already reached the newsroom with fire and torches.
“The moment we tried to open the door of the studio to get out, we saw they had already entered the newsroom. They were already with their torches, with the fire already,” she recounted.
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She said they barricaded the studio door with chairs before attempting to escape through a back door. They abandoned the plan after discovering that buses outside the building were already being set ablaze.
With the staff trapped inside, Afolabi-Brown said she contacted the commissioner of police and other people in a desperate effort to secure help.
She also recalled the efforts of her colleague Tope’s husband, who initially followed police officers before realising that his wife remained inside the building.
In one of the most emotional parts of her account, Afolabi-Brown said her 98-year-old grandmother and mother-in-law left home and began walking towards the TVC premises after learning that she was trapped.
She said the elderly women walked through the area where hoodlums were setting fires, determined to reach her.
Afolabi-Brown said: “They didn’t care. Those thugs saw them, left them alone. They were chasing the other people. Allow them to walk through them towards TVC to come and find me.”
Reflecting on the experience, the presenter said the incident reinforced the importance of Nigerians recognising their shared stake in the country’s future, irrespective of their workplace or background.
She said: “Regardless of where we work, we have a stake in this thing called Nigeria.
“And the experience of that day or our own experience that we almost lost our lives. Myself, Tope, the crew members, staff members should not be undermined.”
Afolabi-Brown described the incident as painful but expressed gratitude that she and her colleagues survived the attack.
“Very painful, but we thank God for life,” she added.
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