Lekki shooting: Sanwo-Olu was misinformed, says army

Ibrahim Taiwo, commander of military intelligence, 81 division of the Nigerian Army, says Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, was misinformed about the incident at Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

Speaking on Saturday while addressing the judicial panel set up to probe the incident, Taiwo said it is not correct to say anyone died as a result of the shooting at the tollgate.

When he featured in ARISE TV one day after the shooting, Sanwo-Olu had said no one died from the incident.

But hours later, he tweeted that he had received information about the death of one person.

“Information reaching us now is that a life was lost at Reddington Hospital due to blunt force trauma to the head. It is an unfortunate and very sad loss. This is an isolated case. We are still investigating if he was a protester,” he posted on his Twitter handle.

Information reaching us now is that a life was lost at Reddington Hospital due to blunt force trauma to the head. It is an unfortunate and very sad loss.

This is an isolated case. We are still investigating if he was a protester.

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— Babajide Sanwo-Olu (@jidesanwoolu) October 21, 2020

One day after, Sanwo-Olu said two deaths had been confirmed among the protesters at Lekki.

But while being cross examined at the panel by Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Taiwo said  no one died from the incident.

When Adeyinka+Fusika told him about Sanwo-Olu’s position on the incident, Taiwo simply said: “The governor was misinformed.”

Earlier, the panel reviewed a footage of the shooting incident submitted by the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) which manages the tollgate.

The recording captured the incident up to 8pm. The shooting is said to have started about 6:45pm.

Soldiers reportedly opened fire on #EndSARS protesters who had converged on the facility. But the army insists its men only fired blank bullets into the air to disperse the crowd.

Photo credit: Effiong Editi