As Nigerians mark the sixth anniversary of #EndSARS protests, presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, says nobody was killed at Lekki Toll Gate during the historic protests, dismissing reports of massacre as an Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) agenda to destroy Lagos State.
Mr Onanuga made the claim in a social media post on Wednesday in response to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) 2027 presidential candidate, Peter Obi’s statement commemorating the incident.
Mr Obi had in a post on X called for justice for victims of the October 20, 2020 #EndSARS, saying “On that fateful night, peaceful #EndSARS protesters were met with gunfire. Lives were lost, many were injured, and the nation was left with questions about justice, accountability, and the sanctity of human life. We must never forget. We must never normalise injustice.”
But responding to Mr Obi’s post, Mr Onanuga said “Peter Obi is certainly incurable when it comes to regurgitating lies.”
The presidential spokesperson added, “The soldiers did not kill anyone at Lekki Toll Gate. The video of the scene showed soldiers shooting in the air, not at the protesters, who were innocently being used for an IPOB agenda to destroy Lagos.”
The #EndSARS protests against police brutality, extortion and extra judicial killings perpetrated by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force turned violent as soldiers opened fire on protesters at Lekki Tollgate.
“Those who suffered casualties during gunshot need to answer some questions,” Mr Tinubu said then in a video broadcast by Arise TV. “How long were they there? What kind of characters are they?”
The Nigerian army first denied it men were present at Lekki Toll Gate but later said they were there but fired into the air.
A year after the incident, a panel set up by the Lagos State Government confirmed a massacre took place at Lekki Toll Gate, indicting Nigerian army for using excessive force on peaceful protesters, while recommending disciplinary actions against soldiers who pepetrated the act.
The Lagos State Government’s plan to bury 103 corpses triggered outrage as Nigerians linked the bodies to the #EndSARS victims. The state government claimed that the corpses were not from #EndSARS after a leaked memo showed that N61,285,000 was approved for the mass burial.
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