Nigerian socio-political activist, Aisha Yesufu on Tuesday said she was most hurt by how members of the Lagos State House of Assembly ‘betrayed’ #EndSARS protesters while ‘practically swearing allegiance to the All Progressives Congress (APC) national leader, Bola Tinubu’.
According to Yesufu, the lawmakers only cared about Tinubu, a colossal political figure in Lagos State.
“The thing that hurt me more than the killings at Lekki Toll Gate was how members of Lagos State House of Assembly threw #EndSars protesters under the bus & were practically swearing allegiance to Tinubu.
The citizens didn’t matter nor protesters!
All they cared about was Tinubu,” Yesufu wrote on her verified Twitter handle.
POLITICS NIGERIA recalls that on the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 p.m., officers of the Nigerian Army in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) opened fire on peaceful End SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos. A day after the incident, on 21 October, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu, initially denied reports of any loss of lives, but later admitted in an interview with a CNN journalist that “only two persons were killed”.
Similarly, the Nigerian Army initially denied involvement in the shooting, but later stated that it had deployed soldiers to the toll gate on the orders of the governor of Lagos State. A month after the shooting, following a CNN documentary on the shooting, the Nigerian Army admitted to the Lagos Judiciary panel of inquiry into the shooting that it had deployed its personnel to the toll gate with both live and blank bullets.
Meanwhile, a fresh development indicates that at least 46 unarmed protesters were either shot dead, injured with bullets, or assaulted by security forces at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020, the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters said on Monday.
In its 309-page report – ‘Report Of Lekki Incident Investigation Of 20th October 2020’, presented to Governor Sanwo-Olu, the panel said soldiers shot live ammunition at armless protesters intending to kill and maim them.
The nine deceased persons mentioned in the report are Victor Ibanga, Abuta Solomon, Jide, Olalekan Ashafa, Olamilekan Ajasa, Kolade Salami, Folorunsho Olabisi, Kenechukwu Ugoh, Nathaniel Solomon.
The report described Abiodun Adesanya, Ifeanyi Eji, Tola, and Wisdom as “missing presumed dead.” It stated that 22 sustained gunshot injuries and 11 were assaulted by military officers.
The report said that officers and soldiers of 65 Batallion of the Nigerian Army, “led by Lt. Col Bello, left their base with blank and live ammunitions to confront and disperse youths holding only their national flags, with live bullets,” the report partly reads.
