Lekki Tollgate should be free, we Paid with our blood – Nollyood Actor, Alex Ekubo says

Nollywood Actor, Alex Ekubo, has called for the renaming of the Lekki Tollgate in memory of the lives lost on Tuesday, October 20, 2020 and that it should be toll free as well.

Ekubo, made the call in a post on his Instagram page on Thursday, the second anniversary of the Lekki shooting.

He shared a photo from the protest against police brutality, the #EndSARS protest and said, “Dear Nigerian Government, we will NEVER forget this day. 20 – 10 – 20.

We will return the favour.

The Labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain.

“I still maintain, Lekki Toll plaza should be renamed Lekki Memorial Way & remain toll free forever. We paid in full with our blood.”

On the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 p.m., members of the Nigerian Army opened fire on unarmed End SARSprotesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos State, Nigeria. Amnesty International stated that at least 12 protesters were killed during the shooting.^[3] A day after the incident, on 21 October, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu, initially denied reports of any loss of lives, but later admitted in an interview with a CNN journalist that “only two persons were killed”.

The Nigerian Army initially denied involvement in the shooting, but later stated that it had deployed soldiers to the toll gate on the orders of the governor of Lagos State.

A month after the shooting, following a CNN documentary on the shooting, the Nigerian Army admitted to the Lagos Judiciary panel of inquiry into the shooting that it had deployed its personnel to the toll gate with both live and blank bullets.