The Nigerian Army deployed no fewer than seven military trucks to the Lekki Tollgate on the evening of Oct. 20, the day unarmed #EndSARS protesters were allegedly shot by the military.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this was revealed by CCTV footage of the incident which was played by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry for Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters.
The footage was played on Saturday prior to the cross-examination of Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, Commander of the 81 Division, Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island.
The footage was played before a packed audience at the panel, and the timestamp in the video showed people running from the vicinity of Oriental Hotel towards the direction of the tollgate in the Lekki area at 6.43pm.
At 6.45pm, the military arrived and at least seven trucks are seen in the footage. At 6.53pm, lights appeared to have been turned off at the tollgate facility and the footage began playing in a blurry black and white video.
At 6.55pm, the military drove through the tollgate and at 6.57pm, flashes of gunfire could be seen in the footage. At 7.09pm, the protesters appeared to be surrounded on all sides by the military vehicles which had flashing lights. Earlier during proceedings, the Chairman of the panel, retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, had noted that during the hearing of Nov. 6, 20-hours worth of footage presented by the Lekki Concession company (LCC) was given to Mr Adeshina Ogunlana, the lawyer for the #EndSARS protesters.
Okuwobi noted that the lawyer had on that day informed the panel that he would sift through the footage and select the portions that would be relevant to his case.
Responding, Ogunlana told the panel that he had watched the footage and had noted the parts of the video that are of interest to him. “LCC has furnished us with the footage and we have taken our time to reach out to the counsel of LCC and the Lagos State Government.
“We agreed that subject to their acceptance, all we watched is the same until 5pm and we should limit viewing from 5pm to 7.59pm when the tape ended,” Ogunlana said. The counsel for LASG, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) aligned his views with Ogunlana’s submission.
“The relevant portions of the footage which is from 5pm to 7.59pm should be viewed,” he said. (NAN)
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
