By Iliya Kure
Against the denials by Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, that no shootings had taken place at Lekki toll gate during the #ENDSARS protests, the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution set up by Lagos State Government, has indicted the military, describing their action at Lekki as “massacre.”
The Judicial Panel was set up to look into cases of alleged police brutality, and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, as well as investigate last year’s Lekki toll gate shootings, when Nigerian Army opened fire on peaceful protesters.
Despite documented video evidence of military presence at Lekki Toll Gate and sounds of gunshots, Nigeria’s Minister of Information had consistently denied any killing by the military at Lekki.
Last month, during the first anniversary of the Lekki shooting, Mr. Mohammed was hard on the matter, dismissing the incident as “phantom massacre” and labelling CNN’s reports on the incidence as fake news.
In its report, the panel accused the Nigerian Army of having “shot, injured and killed unarmed helpless and defenseless protesters, without provocation or justification, while they were waving the Nigerian Flag and singing the national anthem and the manner of assault and killing could in context be described as a massacre.”
Furthermore, the report alleges a cover-up attempts by the Nigeria police, for cleaning up the scene of the shooting and failed to preserve the scene for investigators. “The police officers also tried to cover up their actions by picking up bullets,” the report says.
It also accuses Nigerian authorities of tampering with CCTV footage and removing the bodies of the dead from the scene.
Except for one Major General, the panel recommends that all members of the Nigerian Army deployed to Lekki toll gate that night should face “appropriate disciplinary action and be stripped of their status,” before dismissal. “They are not fit and proper to serve in any public or security service of the nation,” it says.
The investigating panel was set up in October 2020 to look into cases of alleged police brutality, and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Their work was later expanded to cover the investigation of the Lekki toll gate incident.
Below is a list of victims of the Lekki Toll Gate incident
