A former minister of information, Lai Mohammed, has insisted that there was no massacre at the Lekki Tollgate during the mass protest over the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in October 2020.
He stated this during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.
“Our position on EndSARS was very clear. At no point did the Federal Government say there were no casualties during EndSARS; there were casualties.
“We reported them, we admitted them. Thirty-seven policemen lost their lives. Six soldiers lost their lives during EndSARS,” Mohammed stated.
“Nobody speaks about this, but we admitted it. We give the numbers that lost their lives in Kano, in Abuja, everywhere, but what we said and what we still insist on, that there were no massacres at the Lekki tollgate.
“And I think this is where I disagreed with the CNN. The CNN was not at the lucky tollgate. CNN relied on poorly sourced stories to write its story,” he added.
The former minister in the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari also said he stands by his position, adding that the Lekki Tollgate saga “is the only massacre in the whole of the world where there are no bodies”.
He disclosed that he devoted a whole chapter to the event in his book, ‘Headlines And Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined An Administration’.
He also said that the book sets out to correct erroneous beliefs in the public space.
“This is the only massacre in the whole of the world where there are no bodies. People died in Alimoso, people died everywhere, but there was no massacre at the tollgate, and I challenge anybody to come and tell me today that ‘my son or my daughter was at the tollgate, he didn’t come back home,” he stated.
The former spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said soldiers who were deployed to the tollgate were issued blank bullets.
He, however, said that blank bullets could result in injuries.
“The whole idea is to disable you, of course, yes, it could probably. I’m not a ballistic forensic expert, but I’m saying that as to the best of my knowledge, as of today, there was no massacre at the Lekki tollgate,” the former minister stated.
He said he studied the Lagos State report on the incident and gave an account of what transpired.
“Of course. Not only did I read it [the Lagos State report], I also studied it, and I came back immediately when I came back from France, and I had a world press conference in which I dissected, and I said, ‘No. This is what really transpired.’
“At the Federal Government level who had access to such information they didn’t have. And I know for a fact because I was continually, continuously in touch with the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Defence Staff all throughout those operations, and we had meetings with them,” Mohammed said.
“I know for a fact that soldiers were issued blank bullets when they went to the Lekki tollgate. The actors are still alive today.
“There was a lot of fake news, a lot of misinformation, but really the truth of the matter, and I stand by the up to this day, of course it’s not popular at all because everybody wants to believe that people were massacred and say this: Tell me one person who says my daughter or my son, or my ward was at the Lekki tollgate and he was shot and killed there. It’s five years on,” he added.
While assessing the eight years of the Buhari administration, the former government spokesman said Twitter [now X] was suspended because it was becoming a platform of choice for anybody who wanted to destabilise the country.
The 2021 mass protest resulted from nationwide calls for the disbandment of the SARS, a unit in the Nigeria Police Force, over allegations of human rights abuses.
While prominent anti-SARS figures claimed that protesters were shot at by soldiers and killed at the tollgate in Lekki, Lagos, the government of then-President Buhari dismissed the allegation.
Since the incident five years ago, there have been rallies held to mark the anniversary.
