A former Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, has reiterated that soldiers deployed to the Lekki Tollgate during the October 2020 EndSARS protests were issued blank bullets, insisting that no massacre took place at the site.
Mohammed stated this on Monday while speaking on Channels
Television’s Sunrise Daily, where he defended the position of the Federal
Government under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Our position on EndSARS was very clear. At no point did the
Federal Government say there were no casualties during EndSARS; there were
casualties,” Mohammed said.
“We reported them, we admitted them. Thirty-seven policemen
lost their lives. Six soldiers lost their lives during EndSARS.”
He said while fatalities were recorded in different parts of
the country during the protests, the Lekki Tollgate was not the scene of a
massacre, contrary to widespread claims.
“We admitted it. We gave the numbers that lost their lives
in Kano, in Abuja, everywhere, but what we said and what we still insist on is
that there were no massacres at the Lekki tollgate,” he stated.
Mohammed criticised international media coverage of the
incident, singling out CNN, which he accused of relying on unverified
information.
“The CNN was not at the Lekki tollgate. CNN relied on poorly
sourced stories to write its story,” he said.
Describing the Lekki incident as unique, the former minister
said, “This is the only massacre in the whole of the world where there are no
bodies. People died in Alimosho, people died everywhere, but there was no
massacre at the tollgate.”
He challenged critics to provide evidence of deaths at the
tollgate, adding, “Tell me one person who says my daughter or my son was at the
Lekki tollgate and didn’t come back home. It’s five years on.”
Mohammed disclosed that soldiers deployed to the tollgate
were issued blank ammunition, which he said could cause injuries but not
fatalities.
“Soldiers were issued blank bullets when they went to the
Lekki Toll Gate. The whole idea is to disable you,” he said. “As of today, to
the best of my knowledge, there was no massacre at the Lekki tollgate.”
He added that he studied the Lagos State panel report on the
incident and later addressed the matter publicly, maintaining regular
communication with top military officers at the time.
“I was continually in touch with the Chief of Army Staff and
the Chief of Defence Staff all throughout those operations,” Mohammed said.
Reflecting on the Buhari administration, he also justified
the 2021 suspension of Twitter, now X, saying the platform had become “a
platform of choice for anybody who wanted to destabilise the country.”
The EndSARS protests were sparked by nationwide demands for
the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad over allegations of police
brutality, with annual rallies still held to mark the Lekki Tollgate incident
five years after.
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