A throwback video of Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed insisting that no life was lost at the Lekki Toll Gate shooting of the 20th of October, 2021 has surfaced on social media.
Whlie downplaying the now confirmed tragedy that ended the peaceful #EndSARS protest, the Minister consistently denied reports of a massacre at the toll gate.
He maintained at every opportunity that no life was lost, describing the claim by Amnesty International that no fewer than 12 protesters were killed at the toll gate by men in Army uniform as a “massacre without bodies.”
Lai Mohammed also threatened to sue Cable News Network (CNN), the most vehement of the eyewitness and Nigerian Disc Jockey, DJ Switch and other media houses who claimed that soldiers shot live bullets at unarmed peaceful protesters.
However, a report submitted by the Lagos State Judicial panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and other matters to the Governor of Lagos State, vindicated all the media houses and the DJ.
The report revealed that at least 48 protesters were either shot dead, injured with bullet wounds or assaulted by the soldiers who brutally ended the protests.
On its part, a rights group has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately sack the Minister, arrest and prosecute him.
The call was made on Tuesday in a statement by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA)
HURIWA’s call is a fallout of the revelations made by the Justice Dori-Okuwobi-led report submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday.
Other rights groups have reiterated the same call.
Allegiance Nigeria
Dismiss and arrest Lai Mohammed – Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) calls for the dismissal and prosecution of Lai Mohammed for denying Lekki massacre.
“We are asking the President Muhammadu Buhari as a father of all to order the arrest and prosecution of his minister of information,” the group join voices with other Nigerians who watched how the honourable minister for Information and Culture publicly denied there was ever killing of Nigerian youth at Lekki Tollgate last year
Video:
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Throwback Video: Lai Mohammad Insisted No Life Was Lost At Lekki Toll Gate Shooting