Nigerian Army insists no one was killed at Lekki

The army said soldiers deployed to the scene used blank bullets containing only gunpowder.

It denied shooting at or killing anyone at the scene, whether with blanks or live ammunition, contrary to claims by several petitioners and protesters.

Some #ENDSARS protesters and human rights groups had claimed that soldiers killed and carted away bodies of several protesters.

But the Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, who represented the army at the resumed sitting of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on SARS Abuse on Saturday, said if the soldiers had used lethal bullets, each one would have killed at least three persons.

The resumption of sitting by the panel yesterday followed the return of the two youth panel members, Rinu Oduala and Temitope Majekodunmi, who abstained last week in protest against the freezing of the bank account of #ENDSARS promoters by the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The retired Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel had adjourned on November 7 when its proceedings were frustrated over inability to form quorum owing to the boycott of the sitting by the two youth panel members.

Brigadier General Taiwo who testified  with the aid of videos said the deployment of soldiers to the scene followed the Army’s approval of a request by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State.

He said the #EndSARS protests plunged Lagos State into anarchy, with statewide incidents of burning of police stations, looting of arms and ammunition, killing of policemen, blockage of roads and extortion of money from innocent citizens by hoodlums.

According to him, Sanwo-Olu’s decision to invite the military was the best one.

One of the several videos presented by Taiwo was that of a mob that attacked the Orile Police Station, beating a policeman to death.

Another was of a mob that killed someone, set the body ablaze and hoodlums talking about sharing of the burnt body parts.

He said the anarchy was reminiscent of the Liberian war.

He said: “These scenes are reminiscent of the Liberian Civil War when the fighters believed that once they consumed human body parts, they would be fortified, they would be strong.

“It was these incidents that made the Governor of Lagos State ask for military intervention, and in my opinion, that was the correct thing to do since the police had been overrun and policemen were fighting for their dear lives.”

He told the Retired Justice Dorris Okuwobi-led panel that it deployed soldiers across Lagos State and not just at Lekki.

Taiwo also expressed shock over Governor Sanwo-Olu’s denial of inviting the military for intervention to quell the violence.

He said: “It was the governor that called Nigeria Army for intervention. I spoke with the governor that the Army was unhappy that he said we were not asked to intervene.

“Perhaps it was the way everything went that made him (Sanwo-Olu) to say so. That afternoon, the governor had called the Chief of Army Staff and GOC commanding 81 Division.”

Taiwo added that the governor had called the Chief of Army Staff following which 81 division of Nigeria Army was ordered into phase four of Internal Security Operation before 4pm on October 20, 2020.

He claimed that the change in timing of the curfew imposed by the Lagos State Government on October 20, 2020 was not communicated to the Nigerian Army.

His words: “Due to the urgency of the situation, it is no wonder the governor declared a 24-hour curfew which was supposed to start by 4pm.

“Analyzing that further, it shows that the situation was so dire and the governor wanted everyone off the streets.

“After some observations, this timing was shifted to 2100 hrs, that is 9pm.

“However, these timings were not communicated to the Nigerian Army.

“Be that as it may, the Nigerian Army deployed immediately to forestall further breakdown of law and order.”

The general added that Lagos had already entered destabilization stage when government lifted the curfew without informing the army, “otherwise we would have advised against such and asked that the curfew remained till Sunday.”

Narrating how the Lekki tollgate shootings occurred, Taiwo said: “When the military got to the tollgate, the police were already there, trying to deter the people who wanted to burn the Oriental Hotel.

“The commander on the ground met the real EndSARS protesters on one side and the hoodlums at the other side.”

He said soldiers were pelted with stones and bottles, following which they fired blanks to disperse the protesters.

“The genuine protesters sat on the floor.”

Explaining the difference between blanks and live ammunition, he said a live bullet would kill within a 600m range, depending on the shooter’s skill, while the blank one would not, even if shot at a close range.

A live ammunition, he explained, could blow up a target’s brain at close range, adding that the soldiers were, at different stages on the night, just a short distance from the protesters.

He said: ”If that rifle is shot at somebody at 10 metres, the damage is unimaginable.

“The entry hole (of a live ammunition) is thin, while the exit is wide. If it hits you in the chest or the bowels, the intestines come down.

“I am an expert in ammunition, having spent so long in the army. Blank ammunition is slower and can do no damage to the flesh, and you have nothing to fear except you take a rifle, put it against your eye and fire.

“Even if you put it against your skin and fire, you will only have burn marks.”

He said there were no gunshot wounds reported by any of the  people taken to hospital.

He was upset about alleged campaign of disinformation against Nigerian Army.

“It’s done by those seeking to drive a wedge between Nigerians and the Armed Forces,” Taiwo added.

He denied allegations that soldiers took away corpses, adding that the army had no secret mortuary where corpses are hidden.

Giving details of efforts by the army to quell the protest and lootings, Taiwo said from his assessment of the incident across parts of the city, most businesses that were looted belonged to Igbo business men and women.

He stated that the statement made by leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, that Igbo were mostly responsible for the mayhem in Lagos, was untrue.

According to him, the hoodlums were from all ethnic groups.

He said: “In the wake of the protest in Lagos, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kalu stated that Igbo were responsible for the mayhem in Lagos. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

“By my assessment, most businesses looted during the protest were owned by Igbo.

“On two occasions when the curfew was lifted in Lagos, the army authority was not informed. If the curfew had remained in place, we would have been able to recover the looted items from Shoprite Lekki, Sango-Tedo and its environs.”

Gen. Ahmed also stated that the army would have been able to recover most looted items, especially at the Lekki axis, had the Lagos State Government not lifted the curfew imposed on the state, adding that the lootings were well co-ordinated.

We’re not looking for DJ Switch

The Army similarly denied that it was looking for Celebrity Disk Jockey (DJ), Catherine Udeh, alias DJ Switch.

It said it had neither threatened nor was after any #EndSARS protesters.

There are unconfirmed reports that Switch has been granted asylum in Canada following alleged death threats for her involvement in the #EndSARS protests.

She had live-streamed the Lekki shooting via Instagram and alleged that some protesters were shot and that some victims were taken away by the army.

Taiwo said the claim was false.

The general said: “Some people take delight in misrepresenting Nigeria and particularly the Nigerian Army to the international community and our fellow Nigerians. This, I believe, is done for pecuniary gains.

“Quite recently, a Nigerian, Catherine Udeh, also known as DJ Switch, claimed the Nigerian Army was looking for her. There is nothing further from the truth than that.

“My Lord, we have bigger fish to fry; and that is how to stabilise Lagos. We can’t be bothered chasing one or two people. Where she got that from, I do not know.”

General Taiwo also disclosed that the army helped in evacuating over N2 billion cash from some banks that were attacked in the Lekki axis.

He said banks were the most affected businesses when the protests were hijacked by hoodlums.

One of the footages shown at the panel was that of how soldiers rescued the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, when his palace was invaded by a mob.

The general also said hoodlums tried to sack the Lagos House at Marina but were repelled by soldiers.

He said the attempted jailbreaks at Ikoyi and Kirikiri correctional centres appeared well coordinated.

“It was deliberate, nobody tried to break in. Rather prisoners tried to break out. It was coordinated. They heard about what was happening outside.

He said that that while he was enforcing order at Lekki, he got a call from the management of Spar, begging him to prevent the company’s mall from being burnt.

“They can loot the place, but please let them not burn it,” he quoted the management as saying.

Earlier, the names of seven alleged victims of the October 20 Lekki shootings were announced at the panel.

Their lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika SAN, told the panel that he had a petition on their behalf against the Nigerian Army.

We saw soldiers shooting protesters, picking corpses, three protesters tell panel

Three #EndSARS protesters in their accounts of the events submitted to the panel said they saw soldiers shoot at protesters.

They also claimed that soldiers picked up no fewer than seven corpses and drove off with them in their vans.

Kamsiyuchukwu Perpetual, Dabiraoluwa Adeyinka Honey Ayuku and Samuel Isah in their November 11 petition seen by The Nation yesterday, was submitted to the panel by their lawyer, Mr Adesina Ogunlana, a former Chairman of the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Perpetual said she participated in the #EndSARS protests and “worked backstage with crew members to ensure the protest went smoothly.”

She said on October 20, she arrived at the toll gate at about 1:30pm “having received updates that curfew had been imposed for 4pm.”

Later she was informed that it had been shifted till 9pm.

“At about 6:50pm…I started to hear gunshots. I looked around and saw military men shooting. They were approaching the protesters in a very deliberate manner. I noticed that after each round of shots fired, they will advance and fire further shots towards us and advance again and fire shots.

“At this point, some protesters like Obianuju Catherine Udeh (also known as DJ Switch) and another protester known to me as Dabira took the stage and directed us to sit down and raise our flags. We followed their directive.”

She said they refused to listen to Brigadier-General Francis Omata when he sought to address them “because his men had killed a good number of our fellow comrades”.

An ambulance that Dabiraoluwa had helped to invite through a “senior military officer” came to help, “but was turned back by soldiers.

“After 15 minutes, four ambulances came and some protesters and I quickly rushed to get some injured bodies into two ambulances and those ambulances went away.

“Whilst this was going on, the soldiers were picking the shells of the guns that fell on the floor. I then asked fellow protesters to pick the shells on the floor also. One of the military men threatened to hit me with the butt of the guns…another soldier threatened to shoot me but he did not.

“I saw soldiers picking at least seven dead, limp bodies hit by bullet into their vans.

“Much later after the military left, I saw policemen come into the scene and shooting bullets and firing tear gas at protesters who were still many on the scene.”

She said she learnt the next morning that some dead and injured protesters were moved to Reddington Hospital, Lekki, but they were not allowed to see the corpses when they got there.

“….One of the nurses informed me that the dead and injured had been transferred from Reddington Hospital to an unknown hospital based on orders from above.”

Perpetual named the 22 dead “and one of the dead persons we were allowed to see thus:

“Abiola Esther (Female), RFK(Male), Lekan Williams (M), Felix Nandip(M), Adams Moses, Akindele Damilola(M), Samuel Iordyom(Male), Emmanuel John(M), Isaac Amede(M), Charles Uzoma(M), Raymond Simon Abah(M), Samuel Anthony(M), Andrew Ugochukwu(M), Bobby Maduka(M), Moses Oyi(M), Emmanuel George(M), Nelson Andrew (M), Sheriff Akande(M), Chigozie Chukwujeku (M), Shoba Muhammed(M), Damilola Adedayo(M) and Bakare Michael(M).

Ayuku’s testimony was similar.

She said: “When the military vans reached the toll gate, the soldiers alighted…with some of them shooting directly at the protesters and some of them shooting above the heads of the protesters who began running…”

She and others, including DJ Switch jumped off the stage in fear and took cover.

“The soldiers kept shooting at random and I saw people falling to the ground, injured or lifeless. I took cover behind the wheel of a truck.

A male protester who identified me walked towards me and attempted to sit beside me but was hit by a bullet. I noticed more people being hit by bullets and with the help of others, we began lifting them from the ground to the stage truck.

“Among those on the truck, I saw four lifeless bodies…that night…. The soldiers were asking people to run while they shut at them. I remember a particular soldier that kept dancing while he shot.”

Isah said he made a video recording of the shootings and would tender same to the panel.

“I saw many protesters getting shot by the soldiers, sustaining injuries and some dying in the process I agonizing pains.”

He said he fled.

“There were a lot of bodies of dead protesters lying on the floor and I saw soldiers picking three of these corpses up and dropping them in their trucks.”

He and other managed to carry some wounded and fled.

At about 11:30pm, they met policemen “dressed in their uniforms with their vans and another man on a white native dress, who began shooting directly at protesters again.

“I saw a young man in his 20s hit by the bullet fired by the police and drop dead immediately.”

Proceedings will resume at the panel on Tuesday.

The Commander, 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo yesterday told the Lagos State Panel of Inquiry and Restitution on the alleged  atrocities  of SARS that the order for the deployment of Soldiers  to the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20 came from President Muhammadu Buhari.

Taiwo, under cross examination from the Lagos State counsel at the panel,Mr.Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN),said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu lacks the authority to give order to the army

He said the best the governor could do is to request for deployment.

A magistrate’s court in Abuja has ordered the police to investigate the senior pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, Sam Adeyemi; former Super Eagles star Kanu Nwankwo; music star Davido and 47 other Nigerians for allegedly promoting the #ENDSARS protests.

The order issued by Hon. Omolola Tolulope Akindele, Presiding Chief Magistrate II, Abuja, followed a request by human rights activist, Kenechukwu Okeke.

Okeke, in a criminal suit filed before the court, alleged that the defendants acted in a manner “with intent to assist in the promotion of an unlawful assembly under the guise or composition of #EndSARS.”

He alleged that the defendants used Twitter to instigate “some riotous and tumultuous persons” who destroy his property, adding that they must be brought to justice.

In granting the plantiff’s request, the court wrote a letter to the Police Command in the FCT to investigate the 50 people within two weeks and give a report for “proper adjudication”.

Others on the list of those to be investigated are Aisha Yesufu, Joe Abah, Kiki Mordi, Feyikemi Abudu and Damini Ogulu (Burna Boy).

Others include Folarin Falana (Falz), Debo Adebayo (Mr Macaroni), Maryam Apaokagi, Peter and Paul Okoye, Innocent Idibia, Bankole Wellington, Tiwa Savage, Michael Ajereh, Ayo Balogun (Wizkid), Ayo Sogunro and Deji Adeyanju.