SocialMediaTrends: Who ordered Lekki toll gate shooting? Nigerians renew enquiry

The report by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on last year’s alleged Lekki Toll Gate shooting of #EndSARS protesters by security operatives has sparked renewed calls for a probe on who ordered the shooting.

The report titled ‘Report of Lekki Incident Investigation of 20th October 2020’ confirmed that there was indeed a massacre at the Toll gate, adding that at least nine lives were lost and four others ‘presumed’ dead after a military action was unleashed on unarmed protesters.

The panel listed 48 names as casualties of the incident, 20 of which sustained gunshot injuries, while 13 others were assaulted by policemen and soldiers.

The report read in part, “The atrocious maiming and killing of unarmed, helpless and unresisting protesters, while sitting on the floor and waving their Nigerian flags, while singing the National Anthem can be equated to a massacre in context.

“It was alleged and corroborated that the soldiers had their vans parked at the Lekki tollgate and removed as many bodies and corpses of the fallen protesters, which they took away with their vans.”

These reports stand in variance to staunch denial by the Nigerian government, including the army that any massacre took place at the toll gate plaza.

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The country’s Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, recently described the incident at the Lekki Toll Gate as a “Phantom massacre”, saying it was the “first massacre in the world without blood or bodies.”

Since the report of the Lagos panel was submitted on Monday night, Nigerians have commended the team for their ‘objective’ investigation on the matter, while calls for the prosecution and dismissal of security operatives involved in the shooting have crescendoed across social media.

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Much louder on social media are calls for a probe on who gave out the shooting order.

The development comes less than a month after Nigerian youths staged a memorial march at the Toll Gate in honour of the fallen protesters.

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