By Shakirudeen Bankole
The Nigerian government and Lagos State administration have been accused of desperation to cover up the atrocities committed by the military on October 10, 2020 at the Lekki Toll Plaza against peaceful #EndSARS protesters.
A lawyer and Social Commentator, Mr. Dele Farotimi, while speaking on Arise News Channel, Friday, claimed that based on facts he personally collected from interrogation with survivors and victims of the military aggression, he has conclusively agreed that scores of innocent Nigerian youths, protesting for good governance and adequate security, were brutally killed and their bodies taken away.
He also alleged that he has strong evidences that the Federal and Lagos State Government, jointly initiated their plans to cover up the alleged extrajudicial killing, including the unreported cases at Ikorodu, Ikotun, and elsewhere.
Visibly furious, the legal practitioner, said he has “it on good authority that they (the government) is currently quietly cleaning up sources of evidences that back up the crime.”
According to him, truth over the shooting and killing of scores of peaceful #EndSARS protesters at Lekki Toll Gates, Lagos, on October 10, by men identified to be military men, on the order of the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is an aberration.
“The last time I saw what happened in Lekki was in 1993 in Ikorodu when soldiers where killing innocent Nigerians and taking away their bodies. It is the highest level of impunity and criminality any country can ever experience.”
While defining the now disbanded SARS as “just a cold word for impunity,” he added that the former Police Tactical Unit, can be seen “as the capacity of the state to deal ruthlessly with the ordinary people who were asking for constitutionally guaranteed rights.”
He said the current Panel of Inquiry setup nationwide, particularly that of Lagos State, is rather a window dressing, saying there is a behind the scene efforts to further victimise the victims.
His words:”The gocenrennt might pretend that they want the panel to sit, but I tell you, they are finding shenanigans ways to truncate the process.
“No man sits and negotiate with a man who has a gun on the table. I mean how can you invite the youth to be partaking in the process only to be freezing their bank accounts?
“I dare to say that Sanwo-Olu, Nigerian Army and others don’t have interest in unveiling the truth.
“There are clear evidences that people were killed. I have spoken to survivors and relatives of victims. It was a criminal event.
“The Lagos State Governor is culpable. And the earlier the Governor came out, tell the role he played in the whole situation, the better and faster we heal.
“A lot of eyewitnesses were being victimised to run on the exile, in an attempt to cover the truth.
“People were also killed in Ikorodu, Ikotun, Mushin and Lekki Toll Gate, and people are not doing anything about it.”
