Exactly two years ago (October 20, 2020), the entire country was in sorrow after shootings in the Lekki Tollgate purportedly carried out by the Nigerian Army to halt youngsters protesting police brutality.
Remember that in October 2020, Nigerian youths across the country held a statewide demonstration over extrajudicial executions by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.
Officers of the Nigerian Army allegedly opened fire on unarmed demonstrators gathered at the Lekki Tollgate about 6:50 p.m. on October 20, 2020, killing numerous innocent individuals.
According to a report by Amnesty International published after the incident, the Nigerian military had murdered at least 12 demonstrators, according to PulseNets.
The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu, originally disputed reports of any casualties the next day, on October 21, but then acknowledged in an interview with a CNN journalist that “just two persons were killed.”
The federal administration, which is led by President Muhammadu Buhari, had also asserted that there was not a single piece of evidence to support any protester’s death at the tollgate.
When contacted by PulseNets on Wednesday in Abuja, some Nigerians expressed regret that the Lekki massacre victims had not yet received justice.
James Idoko, an on-air personality, bemoaned that the government stated there were no killings at the Lekki Tollgate despite video evidence.
He said, “This APC regime is the worst thing that happened to this country. First, they don’t value human lives, they do whatever they want. The way the government is handling the current insecurity has justified that the Lekki massacre was orchestrated. Life means nothing to them.
“Even when CNN and other foreign media platforms revealed that people were massacred in that incident, these archaic people still insist it never happened. What a government. May the souls of the fallen heros continue to rest with the Lord.”
Vicky James, a social media influencer, told our correspondent that the outcome of the upcoming election will teach certain politicians who arranged the massacre a big lesson.
She said, “In 2020, they acted like they didn’t need us. Tinubu flew out of Nigeria shortly after the incident. There is a saying which says that ‘a clear conscience fears no judgement’. Why was he running? And till today, what has he said about it?
“They killed innocent people who are demanding for something that is their right. The police abused us and we said no, we decided to stage a peaceful protest and they decided to kill all of us”.
Emeka Daniel expressed hope that a government will emerge in the future that would make sure the victims received justice.
According to Emmanuel Onwubiko, the national coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, some of the Lekki Tollgate employees ought to have been detained.
He claimed that individuals who planned the shooting intentionally removed the CCTV camera from Lekki Tollgate, claiming that this act alone constituted a public offence.
He said, “Operators of the Lekki Tollgate, what they did was that they put off the CCTV camera and they were cut on camera while doing that. That itself is a public crime. And the people who did that are yet to be charged.
“The government and the military have not actually admitted that people were killed in that incident even when video evidence revealed that a lot of Nigerians were killed.
“There are a lot of questions regarding the Lekki incident that the government is yet to answer. But we believe that one day, there will be a government that will want accountability because even if it takes a hundred years, a crime committed cannot be washed off.
“Those who are in government today, if they think that they are going to escape it, they are making a lot of mistakes. Some of the panels that were set up after the incident did well but not excellent because so many victims of police brutality were not compensated.”
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