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A week after the shootout against peaceful protesters in Lagos, the Nigerian army admitted that its soldiers were deployed to restore order, but denied opening fire on the gathered crowd protesting police brutality.
At least 10 protesters were killed in the shooting in Lekki Square on October 20, according to Amnesty International.
The army had maintained that its troops were not at the scene, but on Tuesday night, a military spokesman, Major Osoba Olaniyi, said soldiers were sent to enforce the curfew. However, he denied that the troops fired at the protesters.
“At no time did the Nigerian army soldiers open fire on any civilian,” Olaniyi said in a statement.
Olaniyi said the soldiers were deployed on the orders of the Lagos state government due to “the violence that led to the burning of several police stations, the death of policemen, the release of suspects into police custody and the withdrawal of weapons.”
The governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, however, has said that the state has no authority over the national army. “It is imperative to explain that no governor controls the army’s rules of engagement,” he wrote on Twitter the day after the shooting. “However, I have conducted an investigation into the orderly and adopted rules of engagement employed by the Nigerian Army men deployed at the Lekki toll gate.”
Gesture of protesters during a protest for alleged police brutality, in Lagos, Nigeria [File: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters]
The military did not say how the soldiers intervened to curb the unrest beyond denying that they fired at the protesters.
The military’s statement came shortly before Amnesty International’s release Wednesday of an investigation that said it had tracked army vehicles from its Lagos barracks to the Lekki toll gate using verified photos and videos of the movements of the soldiers. soldiers who had been posted on social media.
At 6:29 pm (17:29 GMT) on October 20, two military vehicles were filmed leaving Bonny Camp, while later footage shows another four that appear to be used by the military and police, according to the group.
“What happened at Lekki Toll Gate has all the hallmarks of the Nigerian authorities’ pattern of cover-up whenever their defense and security forces commit unlawful killings,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International Country Director for Nigeria.
Initial denials of soldiers’ involvement in the shooting were followed by shameful denial of loss of life as a result of the military attack on the protests. Many people remain missing since the day of the incident and there is credible evidence that the military prevented ambulances from reaching the seriously injured as a result of the aftermath. “
Lekki Shooting: Denial Timeline
10.20.20: Military not at Lekki toll gate
10.21.20: military denied their participation
10.22.20: The governor of Lagos denied his participation
10.23.20: Lagos and the military deny that there were any shots
24.1020: the governor of Lagos admits that there were soldiers there#LekkiTollGate– Amnesty International Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) October 28, 2020
A Lagos-based soldier, who declined to be identified because this soldier was not authorized to speak to the media, told the Reuters news agency that troops from the 65th Battalion of the 81st Army Division, with base in Bonny Camp, they had fired on unarmed civilians at the tollbooth. gate.
Witnesses in Lekki described armed men in army uniforms arriving at around 7pm (18:00 GMT) at the site of the peaceful protests, where protesters knelt to wave flags and sing the national anthem, before the men They will raise their weapons and fire into the crowd.
A judicial panel began investigating the shooting on Tuesday. The panel is also investigating allegations of abuse against the Special Anti-Theft Brigade (SARS), an infamous police unit accused of extortion, extrajudicial executions, rape and torture.
Youth-led protests against police brutality erupted in early October after a video allegedly showing a SARS agent killing a man was widely shared online.
After days of demonstrations, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari agreed to dissolve SARS, but protests persisted and participants demanded radical reforms of the police force and actions against corruption.
The shooting in Lekki Square took place after authorities imposed a 24-hour curfew ordering everyone to stay home. For two days after that, Lagos saw widespread unrest.
Overall, Amnesty estimates that 56 people have died across the country since the protest began, including protesters and “thugs who were allegedly hired by the authorities.”
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