#ENDSARS: Peterside blasts Lai Mohammed, other govt officials who denied Lekki killings

Atedo Peterside, the founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, on Monday, issued a scathing, not-so-subtle criticism to unnamed officials of the Federal Government who had repeatedly denied the murder of innocent protesters at Lekki Toll Gate.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that a lot of protesters were killed by troops of the Nigerian Army at the Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, in a gruesome climax to the agitations for good policing across the country.

In a recent response, the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed who had consistently denied the massacre, stated that there was no proof that any protester was killed at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos state on October 2020.

Mohammed described the event at the tollgate as a “phantom massacre”.

The minister had said the military did not shoot at protesters, and that the only shooting “was in the social media, hence there were neither bodies nor blood”.

“At earlier press conferences, I had called the reported massacre at the toll gate the first massacre in the world without blood or bodies”, the minister had said.

However, in his stance during an interview on AriseTV monitored by Ripples Nigeria, Peterside cautioned the Federal Government officials against making inconsiderate statements.

“Let me commend the judicial panel who did a good job but the report had me conflicted due to the denial by the FG on the victims.

“Those in the FG made some inconsiderate statements on the killings; a lot of people in govt kept quiet because they know something was amiss. Some FG official in Abuja was making statements about what happened in Lekki when the soldiers at the scene refused to say anything at the panel due to the offence of perjury.

Read also: Nothing has changed with Police since 2020 #EndSARS protests – Atedo Peterside

“I expect FG officials to be more circumspect. If we doubt the Lekki Toll Gate incident, then we might as well doubt so many incidents in history.

“There are some fundamental pillars: to fight injustice; to ensure the truth — there are people in this country who lie whenever they make an utterance. A nation whereby prominent liars are at the forefront will never progress. But the majority of people who seek justice are quiet.”

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