The federal government on Thursday reiterated that there were no mass killings at the Lekki Toll Plaza following the intervention by soldiers during the #EndSARS protests.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed said while reacting to an investigative report by the America’s Cable News Network, CNN, during a press conference in Abuja.
CNN in its report published Wednesday, said live bullets were used on protesters, showing footages of people lying in the pool of their own blood.
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Contrary to widespread reports, Mohammed said the allegations of mass killings at the toll plaza were targeted at misleading the world.
“While we await the Judicial Panel in Lagos to unravel what transpired at the Lekki toll gate, what we can say, based on testimonies available in the public space, is that the world may have just witnessed, for the very first time ever, a massacre without bodies,” he added.
The Minister went ahead to insist that the military did not shoot at protesters at the toll gate.
He asked anyone who has contrary proofs to make them available to the panel investigating the matter.
Flaying the CNN for its investigative report on the Lekki incident, Mohammed described it as a “blatantly irresponsible” media organisation.
The minister added: “Like everyone else, I watched the CNN report. I must tell you that it reinforces the disinformation that is going around, and it is blatantly irresponsible and a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organization,”
He also called for the sanctioning of the international television channel, terming its investigation on the Lekki shootings as an “irresponsible report.
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“This is very serious and CNN should be sanctioned for that,” he said.
However, the Minister came short of saying where the sanctions should come from.