Judiciary

Breaking: LCC submits footage of Lekki Shootings to judicial panel

Published

3 years ago

2020/11/03

The Lekki Concession Company, operators of the Lekki tollgate, has submitted video footage recorded by its surveillance camera on the night of October 20, 2020, when soldiers allegedly opened fire on #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate.

The Managing Director of LCC, Abayomi Omomuwa, submitted the video footage on Tuesday to the Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by the Lagos State Government to probe the Lekki shootings as well as complaints of human rights abuses against members of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

Omomuwa said, “I can confirm that inside here is the video footage that our surveillance camera was able to record for the 20th of October.”

At least 10 protesters were killed in the Lekki plaza shooting on Oct. 20, according to Amnesty International.

Before the shootings, thousands of Nigerians marched in Lagos and other cities to demand an end to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, a police unit accused of extrajudicial killings and abuses.

NewsWireNGR recalls that the army had previously maintained that its troops were not at the site of the shooting, but military spokesman, Maj. Osoba Olaniyi, reversed that position, saying soldiers had been deployed there to enforce a curfew. However, he denied that the troops shot at the protesters.

“At no time did soldiers of the Nigerian army open fire on any civilian,” Olaniyi said in a statement.

Olaniyi said soldiers were deployed on orders from the Lagos state government, but the governor has said the state has no authority over the national army. Many Nigerians question why the soldiers were deployed at the peaceful protest, in which thousands had gathered at the Lekki plaza.