For allegedly lying about what happened in the Lekki tollgate, The Human Rights Writers Association called for the dismissal, arrest and trial of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in Lagos state, on October 20, 2020. The Association added that his falsehood has now been contradicted by a judicial panel in Lagos.
This was in a statement released during the submission of a decisive and conclusive judicial report by the Lagos State Judicial Commission which investigated the Lekki incident last year. The panel said there was a massacre in the “Report ” as opposed to the earlier claim by the minister of information that there were no killings. It has been reported that the report released by the Judicial Panel of inquiry and Restitution into the incident of cases of police violence in Lekki tollgate, as well as human rights violations, accused the Nigerian military and the Nigerian police, of causing the deaths of protesters at the Lekki tollgate in 2020. The report detailed how the military and police ignored their rules of engagement during the protest was also contained in the report.
The panel in its report found that on October 20, 2020, at the Lekki toll gate, Nigerian army officers shot, wounded and killed helpless and unarmed protesters without provocation or justification even as the Nigerian flag was raised and the national anthem was sung. The assaults and killings could be described in context as a massacre. It was also found that the army did not respect its rules of engagement. There was compelling proof that surely there had been a planned eradication of many civilian protesters at the Lekki toll booth in Lagos state last October.
The Human Rights Writers Association has asked that president Muhamadu Buhari order the arrest and prosecution of the Minister of Information Lai Mohammed. The right group commends the courageous members and chairman of the Lagos State Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the #ENDSARS protests, and noted, in particular, the conditions surrounding the massive cases of extrajudicial killings by the military and armed police when these armed forces opened fire with lethal weapons against unarmed demonstrators.
The president has been called on by the right group not to overlook the illegality of the security agencies, as it is felt by many that the president would allow his information minister to escape without consequences of denying the killings that took despite that the incident place before the eyes of the world and were captured live on video cameras. He could be remembered long after he retired from public service as the dictator who oversaw the genocide of young protesters and generations yet unborn will never forgive him.
Mohammed had vigorously claimed that there was no proof of any killing at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020, during a press conference in Abuja when young people descended on streets to mark the first anniversary of the EndSARS protest nationwide. The Information Minister called the claim made by Amnesty International that as many as 12 protesters were killed in Lagos State by security personnel during the EndSARS protest as an illusion. He also asked the media to “apologize” for misleading the world.
