TV Host and 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 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 Your View, a morning programme, following her resignation from TVC Communications.
She recalled how she had encouraged her colleagues to speak freely about the protests during a live broadcast a day following Lekki massacre, despite the risks involved.
“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,” she recounted.
According to her, four female presenters were scheduled for the programme, but two could not attend physically because they were on the Island. She and her colleague, Tope, were on the mainland and went to the studio, while the others joined online.
Afolabi-Brown said the team spoke about the issues surrounding the protests before hoodlums stormed the building while the programme was still live.
“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.
She recalled that communication with the control room suddenly stopped as the attack unfolded, leaving her confused 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 presenter said the programme was cut short as staff members tried to find a way out of the studio. However, when they opened the door, they discovered that the attackers had already entered 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.
She said they barricaded the studio with chairs before attempting to escape through a back door, but abandoned the plan after discovering that buses were already being set ablaze outside.
Afolabi-Brown said she contacted the commissioner of police and other people for help as she and her colleagues remained trapped inside.
She also recalled the desperate efforts of her colleague Tope’s husband, who initially followed police officers before realising that his wife was still inside the building.
In the emotional account, she 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 inside.
According to her, the elderly women walked through the area where the hoodlums were setting fires, determined to find her.
“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,” she said.
Reflecting on the incident, Afolabi-Brown said the experience reminded her that Nigerians shared a common stake in the country’s future, regardless of their workplaces or backgrounds.
“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,” she said.
She described the incident as painful but expressed gratitude that she and her colleagues survived.
“Very painful, but we thank God for life,” she added.