After
days of extensive reporting, PREMIUM TIMES can now paint a clearer
picture of what happened at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20.
At
about 6:45 p.m. on October 20, men in military uniform arrived at the
Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos in three Toyota Hilux vans and almost
immediately began shooting into a crowd of peaceful protesters gathered
there waving the Nigerian green-and-white flag and reciting the national
anthem.Protesters and other witnesses at the toll gate claimed several
people were injured and killed in the shooting.
A popular Disc
Jockey, DJ Switch, who streamed the incident live on Instagram, claimed
that the soldiers, after the shooting, took the dead away. She also
claimed that a team of police officers arrived later to mop up after the
soldiers.
She said the military initially prevented first
responders and ambulances from reaching the injured but later allowed
them through. She said she saw at least 15 corpses and claimed that
security agents took the bodies away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7bT8KdxsOE
Several
people who watched her Instagram live broadcast claimed they saw
protesters being fired upon by soldiers. They said some protesters died
of bullet wounds while others were left with mild to critical injuries.
Similarly,
a rights group, Amnesty International, claimed 10 people were killed
during the shooting at the toll gate, and two others at the Alausa
protest ground.
However, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide
Sanwo-Olu, who described the shooting as a “dark note in the history of
the state” and blamed the shooting on forces beyond the “direct
control” of his government, originally said no life was lost in the
shooting.He later admitted that two persons died from the incident, one
of them from blunt force trauma.
On Monday, during an interview
on CNN, Mr Sanwo-Olu continued to discredit the accounts of witnesses
about the number of deaths and wounded from the shooting. He said no
bloodstain was found at the scene of the shooting when he visited
“What
has happened is that there have been so many footages that were seen,
that people have shown, but we have not seen bodies,” he said. “We have
not seen relatives, we have not seen anybody truly coming out to say I
am a father or a mother to someone and I cannot find that person. Nobody
has turned up. I have been to the ground, there is no scratch of blood
anywhere there.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV3Bqqpjmn4
Despite accounts by witnesses and video posted online, the Nigerian Army denied that its personnel fired upon protesters.
The
army initially claimed its troops were not at Lekki that night.
However, it later admitted that soldiers were deployed on the request of
the Lagos State government. The army, however, insists that its
personnel did not open fire on the protesters, let alone kill any.
The Lekki Shooting: Checking the facts
Piecing
together details of on-the-ground reporting, credible information
posted online by citizens, accounts by witnesses and victims as well as
information obtained from top military sources, PREMIUM TIMES can now
paint a clearer picture of what happened at the Lekki Toll Gate on
October 20.
The newspaper’s investigative team set out to unravel
what actually happened on the evening of the shooting and the hours
that followed.As this medium gathered evidence for this investigation,
Sodiq Adeoye,who is an employee of research firm SBM Intelligence,
informed one of our reporters after the shooting that some residents of
Admiralty Way, Lekki Phase 1, a highbrow neighbourhood, about two
kilometres from the Lekki Toll Gate, found a body floating in the lagoon
just behind their houses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfeHL21xt-0
Mr
Adeoyo said the residents suspected the floating body could be one of
the protesters fired upon by soldiers and alleged by witnesses to have
been carried.
On this newspaper’s request, Mr Adeoye sent a brief
time-stamped video of the corpse floating in the water. A Google map
coordinate he sent indicated that the body was floating close to Bay
Lounge, an upscale restaurant.
At around 6 a.m on Saturday,
accompanied by a friend, Deji Ashiru, this reporter drove to the
Nigerian Army Post Exchange (NAPEX) Car Park Jetty in Victoria Island,
where he and his team hired a boat to search for the body.
As the
boat approached the bank of the lagoon, behind the imposing Oriental
Hotel, the reporter saw a shanty ahead. The shanty is on the left side
of the Lekki Toll Gate if one was travelling from Victoria Island. Due
to its proximity to the toll gate, it immediately occurred to the
reporter that residents of the community might have witnessed things
that happened during the crackdown that was not yet in the public
domain. His instinct was right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPzPfufOpiY
He
told the driver of the boat to stop his team at the shanty. It seems
the residents had been waiting for someone to tell the stories of what
they saw on the evening of the shooting because team members had hardly
introduced themselves or even disembarked from the boat when they
started recounting gruesome details about the evening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGc1n29N7pM
The
residents, some of whom suffered bullet wounds and other injuries,
during the shooting, alleged that several people were killed and injured
by the soldiers. They also corroborated the story told by DJ Switch and
other protesters that after the shooting soldiers took bodies of those
killed away.
When asked if the protesters were killed and whether
they saw soldiers carry bodies away, one of the residents said: “Of
course, everyone saw it. Those that were present saw it.“Even the one
that died in our presence, wey be say the ekelabe (policemen) carry am
go. They shot am there,” another resident said.
“Boss, if you want to camera, you can camera,” said the second speaker who later identified himself as Ray.
“Let
me tell you something. This is my country. I am not afraid of anything.
Let me say what I saw on that day. I was here from the beginning to the
end of everything. What the soldiers and police did was absolutely
wrong. Why would soldier come and shoot on us when we were having a
peaceful protest,” he said.
When asked if he saw soldiers carry
bodies away, Ray responded: “Of course, I saw dead bodies. They packed
bodies.They came with their vans.Their trucks.” Ray, who expressed
displeasure that President Muhammadu Buhari did not mention the Lekki
shooting in his broad-cast to the nation a couple of days ago, said Mr
Sanwo-Olu visited the scene of the shooting in the early hours of
Wednesday and saw some of the dead.
“Why is Sanwo-Olu denying?
Because immediately after when that thing happened Sanwo-Olu himself
came. He came. He parked at the toll gate. He saw some dead bodies on
the ground. Why is he denying,” he asked.Ray’s account of the event was
also corroborated by other residents of the community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUVCun_kfQo
The
residents also alleged that after the soldiers who initially opened
fire on the protesters left the scene, police officers led by Raji
Ganiyu, a chief superintendent of the police, and the Divisional Police
Officer of the nearby Maroko Division, arrived the scene and continued
the attack on defiant protesters who stood their ground despite the
military attack.
Showing us spent bullet casings they collected
at the toll gate after the shooting, they accused the team led by Mr
Ganiyu, whom they described as wearing a white native attire on the day,
of shooting and killing some protesters, including a mentally ill man
who was often seen around the area.
“DPO of Maroko we see am face
to face wey e blow one person head pull the skull off. Pistol. E wear
white and white,” one of them said in Pidgin.
“Na only one him
kill?” another resident interjected in Pidgin. “What of the mad boy wey
he shoot for our front here. Close range. There was a guy that was
abnormal, he was sat at that speaker. He just came immediately, saw the
boy, the boy didn’t do anything. He didn’t run, he didn’t harass him, he
just removed his pistol and blew the boy’s head,” yet another resident
said.
The Maroko Police Division is directly opposite the shanty
and on the right of the toll gate.When reached for comments, Mr Ganiyu
declined to respond, saying all requests for comment should be directed
to the Lagos Police Public Relation Department.
Also, the police
public relation officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, said any question about the
shooting incident at Lekki Toll Gate would be decided by the judicial
panel of inquiry set up by the state government into alleged atrocities
committed by law enforcement officers.“No comment on this for now,” he
said.
The narratives of the residents of the event of Tuesday
evening and Wednesday morning correlate with that of DJ Switch.In a
video posted on Instagram three days after the shooting, DJ Switch spoke
about the involvement of the police and explained that it was one
aspect of the shooting many were not talking about.
The Lekki Stampede
The
residents explained that when the shooting started a stampede occurred.
They said some of the protesters ran into the community to take cover
from the bullets flying all around them and in the process injured some
of the residents of the community.
This reporter spoke to a
mother who showed him the bruises on the knee of her daughter, which she
claimed she got during the stampede.They said some of the protesters
ran into the lagoon in the panic that ensued. Agboola Kapko, a fisherman
who lives in the community, explained how he rescued some protesters
who ran into the lagoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljV2lcilanQ
“I
dey for that side (points) before dey start to shoot. Many people run
enter water. I can’t leave them like that to die so I help many people
comot for inside water and they come safe. I carry many people go
another way, go put dem and they follow that way go,” he said.
Mr
Kakpo’s wife showed our reporter her bruised and swollen hand. She said
she sustained the injury when she fell while trying to run from the
shooting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC0YewtH1WI
Lekki shooting and the floating corpse
After
speaking with several residents at the shanty, our investigative team
left in search of the floating corpse. Just about 300 metres after the
toll gate on the Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge and about 100 metres from Bay
Lounge, they saw the corpse floating near the bank of the lagoon.
The
corpse was that of a man. It was already swollen and decomposing. It
was shoe-less. The dead man was wearing blue denim jeans trousers and a
flimsy white singlet. It also had a rubber band on its left wrist. The
man seems to be slightly bearded, but it was hard to tell as a swarm of
flies was already gathered around his decomposing face.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEyElNu9Ub8
“No scratch of blood” – Sanwo-Olu lied
During
the CNN interview, Mr Sanwo-Olu, in what appears an attempt to
discredit witnesses’ accounts of the ugly shooting, said when he visited
the toll gate, he did not find a “scratch of blood.” However,
video& photo evidence verified as being from the incident as well as
witnesses and victims accounts of the shooting showed the governor’s
claim as inaccurate.
One of the photos showed a young man
wearing a zip sweatshirt over a Versace t-shirt, with his head lying in a
pool of blood. Witnesses said that the man was shot in the head by the
police officers who arrived the scene after the soldiers left the
scene.Photo verification tools such as Google and Bing reverse searchers
and Tineye indicated that the photo had not previously appeared
anywhere else online.
In one video footage, some protesters were
seen tying a tourniquet to the badly bloodied leg of a victim with a
belt. The unidentified man wriggled in pain. He had been shot in the
leg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzseuCAt-oI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLb1x0CQeAQ
In
another footage, an elderly man whose cloth was drenched in blood was
seen lying beside another person who had suffered bullet wound
injuries.Footages posted on Twitter of the desolation at the Lekki toll
gate the morning after the attack indicated a man showing a large patch
of bloodstain on the scene of the shooting.
Victims recount ordeal
When
this reporter visited Nicholas Okpe at the Emergency Unit of Grandville
Hospital in Ajah, he could barely sit up. He had a patch on his right
chest where a bullet hit him. A tube was attached just under his right
rib cage that drains blood and pus into a container placed on the floor.
The bullet was still lodged in his chest while the hospital waits for a
consultant to further test before deciding how to proceed.
A
doctor at the hospital, who identified herself as Ikemefuna, said Mr
Okpe was in a critical state when he was admitted, and said he was lucky
to be alive.
“He is getting better. He is not on oxygen anymore.
God so good it (the bullet) hit him on the right. It (the bullet)
pushed his lung to the side. He still needs further review,” she said.
Moved
by the prospect of achieving an end to police brutality, Mr Okpe did
not just protest, he did more. He volunteered alongside a handful of
other youth to clean the protest ground at the end of each day’s
protest.He told me his case was so critical that three hospitals
rejected him before Grandville accepted to treat him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdWSSQ91EMo
“The
first hospital they said they cannot admit me,” he said. “They poured
honey where the bullet passed through and plastered and gave me some
injection. They said that will sustain me until I get a hospital that
can treat me.They took me to another hospital, they rejected me. They
took me to another they said they were not open. This is the fourth
hospital they came to. The man here said they should admit me if not I
would have died.”
Mr Okpe said the blood and pus that were
drained from him filled the container four times already. He said he was
in severe distress.
“I’m passing through a lot of pains. I am
always in pain. Anytime I cry out they will just give me painkiller and
they will go. When that painkiller expires the pain will come again. My
head is just too heavy for me with pains,” he said.Mr Okpe also said he
saw the soldiers took aim at the CCTV cameras at the toll gate before he
was hit.
Lekki Shooting Victim — Raymond Simon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQX7wLYGg0s
All
Raymond Simon wanted to do was help. But his large heart almost cost
him his life. Mr Simon told PREMIUM TIMES he was not at the toll gate
when the soldiers shot at protesters. A church instrumentalist, he was
at a rehearsal that evening. As he was returning home on his motorcycle,
he decided to take some of those injured during the shooting to
hospitals.
He said he was returning after making the third trip
from nearby Reddington Hospital when he was ambushed by police officers
at the toll gate who viciously attacked and abducted him.
“After I
was stabbed, they abducted me alongside a corpse. They were driving us
around the area and I suspect they were looking for where to abandon the
corpse. When they got to Ilasan area, they pushed me down. My hands
were tied to the back,” he said.
He said the police officers
drove off with the other presumably dead person. He later managed to
find his way to a hospital where his wound was stitched, and he was
given painkillers before being discharged.
Mr Simon said after he
was attacked, one of the police officers tried to shoot him but one of
his colleagues pushed him away. He said another officer with a bayonet
attached to his rifle aimed to stab him in the neck, but he quickly
moved his head and the blade hit his chin.He said his motorcycle was
stolen during the attack.
Lekki Shooting Victim — Bassey
A
bullet hit Bassey in his right hand as he mingled with other protesters
at the toll gate. Unable to reach first responders on time due to the
blockade set up by the soldiers, he said some residents of the area
close to the toll gate removed the bullet lodged in his left hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNorbu9n7Xk
Bassey
appeared to be in severe pain and in urgent need of medical attention.
He gingerly carried the swollen hand, with a huge wound in the spot
where he was hit by the bullet, close to his body, as he spoke with this
reporter. He said he has not received any treatment worth mentioning
since he suffered the injury.
When PREMIUM TIMES returned to the
shanty to check Bassey the next day, our reporter was told members of
the community had arranged for a motorcycle to take him to St. Nicholas
Hospital, Lagos Island. Our reporter went to St. Nicholas Hospital to
check on him but was told nobody that fits his description came there
for treatment.
Bassey later returned to the shanty on Thursday.
Fellow residents said his condition had worsened as he is yet to get
proper treatment for his injury.
Lekki Shooting Victim — Patrick Ukala
Mr
Ukala was shot in his right arm. He said the bullet is still lodged in
his arm and that he had only received first aid and painkillers. He was
told by doctors at Grandville to do an X-ray of the arm before the
bullet can be removed.
“I am still walking everywhere looking for where to do x-ray but nowhere yet. They promise that I should come back.”
Abandoned by Lagos Government
His
account as well as those of Messers. Okpe, Simon, and Bassey contradict
the claim of the Lagos government that protesters who were injured
would be treated fully free of charge.The victims said the state
government has not contributed a dime to their treatments.Some of them
who were originally treated are now being treated in other hospitals.
Mr
Ukala said the bill for their treatment was covered by one Ideh
Chukwuma, a filmmaker.On Sunday when our reporter visited Mr Okpe at
Grandville Trauma Centre, he met a team from the Lagos State Ministry of
Health, which came with its media crew to interview the victims. Mr
Ukala said that was the last he saw of any government official.
https://youtu.be/hJf_GNQMKQ
Since
the day you saw those people (officials of the Lagos Ministry of
Health) there they have never come there neither did they speak with the
doctor. Finally, the doctor has asked us to leave.” He said Mr Okpe was
discharged with the bullet still lodged in his chest.He has not been
operated on to remove the bullet in his arm.
When Grandville
Trauma Centre was reached for comment, an employee of the hospital who
gave her “professional name” as Doctor Adebayo, confirmed that the
victims had all been discharged.
“Some that need extra
consultations with specialists, we sent them there. We didn’t operate
him (Mr Okpe) here. Probably they will operate him wherever he went to,”
she said.
Hospitals owners accuse Lagos Government of intimidation
Following the shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate, some hospital owners in
Lagos complained to this newspaper that the Lagos State Ministry of
Health was using its Health Facility Monitoring and Accreditation Agency
(HEFAMAA), the organisation responsible for registering healthcare
facilities in the state, to intimidate them.
They said HEFAMAA
sent out an online questionnaire requesting details of injured #EndSARS
protesters treated at their facilities, a move they said could be used
to “arm-twist” them into providing information which might breach
doctor-patient confidentiality rule..............
SOURCE PREMIUM TIMES
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