The Gory Tales of the lekki massacre is written with a heart filled with bitterness and pain, a day that would forever remain in the heart of Nigeria and its people. The moment we lost our heroes who fought for a better country, who stood their grounds despite oppression on human rights for peaceful protests against bad governance.
A time when the army turned their back on its citizens and chose genocide, where the warriors took bullets shot from armored tanks and denied treatment, the night that would forever be remembered.
A period where the blood of the innocent souls shall forever be stained on our flag. The wicked and cruelty of the Muhammad Buhari regime have brought terror and disaster worst than the plagues sent to Egypt by God.
Only did we realize the storm who came in form of summer, the general who came in form of a president, the beast who came in form of a butterfly, I’m sure we would have repositioned our footsteps. It was indeed a night of agony bottled in its history books of Nigeria, Africa, and the entire world under Muhammad Buhari and Yemi Osinbajo’s administration.
A system that finds the slightest excuse for their irresponsibilities and frivolity, an administration that took us back to the military era. A junta filled with impunity and reckless abandon of the rule of law and constitution.
The ordeal
On the 20th of October at about 6:41 pm in the evening, the Nigerian army fired at peaceful protesters over the #endsars campaign. A campaign that was geared towards the end of police brutality and harassment from the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARZ).
The protest started in the city of Lagos at the Lekki toll gate before it gradually took its heels nationwide which was peaceful and well-coordinated. The social media was trending with the hashtag #endsars which got a whole lot of international attention and even further taking it heels beyond the corridors of Nigeria. The movement became an international phenomenon after the protest was demonstrated in Canada, London, and the United States.
The protest officially began on the 12th of October 2020 where a number of youths gathered at the lekki toll gate for a peaceful demonstration which was quite unexpected with the number of youths who turned out, making it quite significant in terms of number. It was estimated that over 2,000 youths gathered the following day which resulted in traffic gridlock at the lekki axis of Lagos.
The movement was later demonstrated in significant areas of the state, likewise other states as well making it a decentralized social movement. The attention of both local and international celebrities was drawn to this worrisome act of this so-called police unit, the likes of Wizkid, Chris Brown, Tyler perry Nicki Minaj and all.
The Attack
Notwithstanding the government opened a game Board for litigating the protests by using political instruments like hoodlums, tout, and thugs. It was clearly evident after a video surfaced online when the thugs were seen entering official security vehicles belonging to the state government.
Unfortunately, it seems it wasn’t really working as the protesters at the lekki toll gate were adamant and repel almost all the attempts to disintegrate their demonstration.
The next movement on the chessboard was to declare a curfew, a state of emergency indicted by his political godfather. A politically motivated decision aimed at restoring the alleged N11.8 million remittance into the Jagaban accounts daily.
But despite the announcement youth still stood their grounds, and the scheduled 6-9 curfew was rescheduled for 9-12 pm respectively, well it wasn’t updated in the final plan on the chessboard.
The camera was removed, a billboard belonging to the Jagaban son was turned off and the street light was turned off, I guess the predetermined final plan by the Lagos State government came too early.
The army came directly to the protesters, dispersed bullets into the air to scare them but they decided to sit on the ground and remain firm to the peaceful demonstration, the army was left with no other choice than to fire at them.
In a live video of a popular disk jockey, DJ switch, it was glaring that bullet had caught up with some of the protesters leaving some dead and a few injured, according to a source, an ambulance was denied entry into the massacre zone not until the soldiers had left.
The same land the youths ate, slept, played, and treated like their home became a land that looked terrifying like that of a war zone.
The Aftermath
The morning after the incident, Nigerians are desperately in dire information on who was responsible for the attack but alas nobody took the responsibility, Even the army denied such allegations on shooting the protesters despite video evidence. Tagged various media organizations for curating fake news and even claimed those live videos were photoshopped.
The Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the incident was beyond his control and he had nothing to do with it. He assured Lagosians he was going to see into the Incident.
The jagaban who allegedly traveled to the United Kingdom confirmed he had nothing to do with the ugly incident that took place the previous day.
Despite the level of sensitivity both locally and internationally, the general did not address the nation within 24hours. After so much pressure, Buhari addresses the nation but the only offer he could give bittered Nigerians was a pre-recorded speech.
Funny enough after the entire speech, he didn’t even address the situation making him the most insensitive president in the world. The speech which got a lot of reaction from well-meaning political commentators like Obasanjo and Wole Soyinka concluded he was a living dead who is yet to visit his grave.
After several dragging of who is responsible, the same army who said they know nothing of such incident said Sanwo-Olu ordered for their presence, claimed they acted on the orders and directive of the Lagos state government
The entire investigation has been in the bedrock of lies and vacuum of mockery to Nigerians, which is a deliberate action to slow the investigation and eventually stuff it in the judicial cabinet.
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