Sunday Dare: Why Buhari hasn’t spoken on Lekki shooting

Sunday Dare, minister of youth and sports, says President Muhammadu Buhari will speak to the public on the Lekki shooting when he has all the facts.

During his address to the nation on the #EndSARS protests on Thursday, the president did not make any comment about the shooting of protesters in Lekki, Lagos.

On Tuesday, security operatives opened fire on unarmed protesters at the Lekki tollgate area of the state with many injured and some feared dead. The incident caused an uproar, within and outside the country.

Speaking on Arise Television on Friday, Dare said Buhari has ordered an investigation into the shooting incident.

“For sure, the president has ordered an investigation. He had a national security meeting yesterday. I can tell you that this is already ongoing because the president wants to have all the facts which will absolutely be made public,” the minister said.

“It is important to get all the facts right before we go forward, in this case. It’s going to be difficult to hide these facts because we live in a multimedia world and we have pieces of evidence and corroboration and I think it is important to get the facts right.

“I think that’s the part the president has towed and I am sure that when the facts are made available, this president – because he has integrity – will level with the Nigerian people about what happened on Tuesday in Lekki.

“Previously, we just had lip service that SARS scrapped. For the first time, you have a presidential pronouncement that SARS has been dissolved followed by the inspector-general and then we saw quick steps thereafter.

“And I think when you look at what has happened in the past and the level of responsiveness and concrete steps, the whole five demands of the youth were wholeheartedly accepted by the president and he set up a process.”