EXPOSED! Amnesty International, Presidency Clash Over Lekki Shooting
Amnesty International (AI) has released a timeline of the Lekki shooting which it claimed follow an “on-the-ground investigation” into the incident.
In the timeline published Wednesday, the rights watchdog said it uncovered how soldiers from the Nigerian army’s Bonny camp opened fire on protesters during the widely condemned lekki shooting.
Nationwide protests against the now-dissolved police special anti-robbery squad (SARS) had metamorphosed into agitation for improved governance in addition to justice for victims of police brutality.
Last Tuesday, soldiers opened fire at the Lekki tollgate where young protesters had been converging in Lagos.
While the army initially denied having a hand in the lekki shooting, it said on Tuesday that it got involved because the Lagos government invited it to restore order.
The new timeline of the incident chronicled from how the protest was peaceful, through the firing of gunshots, and up to the statement from Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos governor, that the army was responsible for the shooting.
Amnesty International said its investigation “has confirmed that the Nigerian army and police killed peaceful protesters” in Lagos.
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“This timeline collates video and photograph footage to confirm that army vehicles left the Bonny Camp – a military base approximately a seven-minute drive from the Lekki Toll Gate at 18:29 local time on 20 October,” it said.
“The vehicles are tracked to the Toll Gate. At around 18:45 the Nigerian military opened fire on the protesters.”
Osai Ojigho, AI country director in Nigeria, accused the government of attempting to cover up the shooting at the tollgate.
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According to her, “what happened at Lekki Toll Gate has all the traits of the Nigerian authorities’ pattern of a cover-up whenever their defence and security forces commit unlawful killings”.
“The initial denials of the involvement of soldiers in the shooting was followed by the shameful denial of the loss of lives as a result of the military’s attack against the protests,” she said.
“Many people are still missing since the day of the incident, and credible evidence shows that the military prevented ambulances from reaching the severely injured in the aftermath.”
However, Femi Adeshina, spokesman to President Buhari on Thursday rejected the report, insisting Amnesty was wrong.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the looting and rioting were not caused by the military shootings because there was already violence before the Lekki incident.
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“You are not quite correct. You are falling for the narrative of Amnesty International. And Amnesty is wrong. Anarchy had broken loose before even Lekki shooting, he told Channels Television.
He said the prisons in Benin and Oko had been broken open before Lekki. While the Orile police station had been burnt before Lekki shooting.
“Many policemen had been burnt before Lekki shooting. So, you cannot say it was Lekki shooting that precipitated all those things. Look at the timelines, look at when all those things. You will discover that it had happened before Lekki. So, you are falling for the gambit of Amnesty International.
“Amnesty International does not have all the facts, they don’t run this country, they shouldn’t know beyond what they have been told. They shouldn’t know more than you and I should know as media people as watchers of developments.”
