‘They’re lying; where are the bodies?’, MC Oluomo queries Lekki shootings

The chairman of Lagos State Parks and Garages management committee, Musiliu Akinsanya, a.ka. MC Oluomo, has queried claims that protesters were shot and killed at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020.

Oluomo raised some questions on Sunday during the rally he organised in Lagos to support his candidate, Bola Tinubu, and the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

He also slammed people connecting the incident to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the 2022 presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He queried; “Where are the bodies, and where are they buried? Do they have relatives in Nigeria? Has Nigeria bribed the mothers of the deceased protesters? Why are their siblings not searching for them, even on social media? Or is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a Chief of Army Staff or President who will order the killing of protesters at the (Lekki) Tollgate?”.

The Tinubu supporter said it was a political game by Tinubu’s counterparts in the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi respectively.

“They’re lying to us, they want to undermine the Yorubas, everyone should come out. It is a political game. It was Atiku and Obi that conspired to do all those things then.”

NewsWireNGR recalls that Sanwo-Olu and the Nigerian Army disagreed on the military involvement in the protest that resulted in the deaths of a number of youths demanding better police system in the nation.

The Commander, 81 Division and Head, Military Intelligence Brigade, Ibrahim Taiwo while testifying before the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry about the October 20 incident said there were lots of misinformation about the incident, all targeted at the army, but said they were particularly unhappy about the “lie” of Mr Sanwo-Olu.

“The Nigerian Army was not happy about two things, the first is the lie that he did not ask the army to intervene, while in fact, it was the proper thing to do as the police were already overrun.

“There were reasonable grounds to ask the army to intervene. Perhaps it was the way everything went that made him say so,” he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari had also slammed the Cable News Network, CNN reportage that claimed the government shot live bullets at unarmed, peaceful EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate on October 20.  

He faulted CNN for the unbalanced story that did not give attention to the casualties suffered by the government. 

“I was disgusted by the coverage, which did not give attention to the policemen that were killed, the stations that were burnt, and prisons that were opened. (They said we are all at fault. We don’t have the sympathy of anyone. We are on our own),” he was quoted as saying by his spokesman, Garba Shehu.

“We do not stop anyone from demonstrating, but you don’t set up roadblocks and smash windscreens. Which government will allow that?’’.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, at the same opined “hoodlums” wearing military uniforms may have shot #EndSARS protesters campaigning against police brutality in Lagos.