Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed on Wednesday insisted that the claimed massacre of Nigerians during the last October’s nationwide mass protests against police brutality, was false.
The Minister who said this in a news conference in Abuja noted that most of the claims of killings were misleading as most of those who made the claims of losing people were yet to show up and give evidence a year after such allegations.
“One year later, and despite ample opportunities for the families of those allegedly killed and those alleging a massacre to present evidence, there has been none: No bodies, no families, no convincing evidence, nothing. Where are the families of those who were reportedly killed at the toll gate? Did they show up at the Judicial Panel of Inquiry? If not, why?
“Sadly, the champions of a massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate, including Amnesty International and CNN, have continued to shamelessly hold on to their unproven stand. Recall, gentlemen, that after bandying different figures, Amnesty International finally settled at about 12 people killed.
“On its part, CNN went from 38 people killed to two to just one, after a supposed global exclusive even when the network had no reporter on ground at the Lekki Toll Gate on Oct. 20th, 2020.” Mohammed said.
In October 2020, young people across Nigeria took to the streets calling for disbanding an abusive police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and for ending brutality in a movement tagged #EndSARS. Security forces responded with excessive force, including gunfire, which resulted in death and serious injuries.
One of the worst crackdowns was at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020 when army officers arrived in about five trucks and surrounded a large group of protesters holding a peaceful sit-in. The soldiers trapped the protesters, using a tactic known as “kettling,” then fired in the air and at the crowd. Kettling is a method of confinement used by security forces to trap a crowd of people in a specific space.
After the soldiers left, police officers arrived and, according to multiple witnesses, began shooting at protesters who had not managed to flee. Witnesses described a gruesome scene with bloodied, lifeless bodies on the ground and many others with gunshot wounds whom they tried to rush to hospitals.
