The former Minister of Foreign Affairs and one time Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN) has described the events at the Lekki Toll Gate Lagos as tragic.
Deploring the action of the soldiers Mr. Ajumogobia expressed his anger stating that “I am outraged and heartbroken. Our children didn’t have to die. What we witnessed was a premeditated murderous ambush of innocent youths by what appears to have been a section of the Nigerian military”. He noted that it appears that the government was rattled by the scale of the protests and the passion and ingenuity exhibited in sustaining them, especially after the widespread defiance of the curfew imposed by the State government.
“However, as we have all seen, livestreams posted to social media by multiple sources yesterday evening appear to show open collusion between hoodlums and law enforcement”.
“The footage is sadly reminiscent of a common strategy, especially on our continent, for civil authorities to sponsor hoodlums and criminals to infiltrate and disrupt peaceful protests in order to create the chaos that provides a pretext to forcibly shut down such otherwise peaceful street demonstrations and protests”.
He further stated that “what we saw play out in Lagos was the conflict between two important constitutional rights: the citizen’s unquestionable right in a democracy to protest police brutality and impunity on the one hand and the undoubted right of the State to restrict movement in protecting public safety in appropriate circumstances, on the other”.
He added that “I do not therefore seek to second guess the Governor of Lagos State or indeed the President in the decision to impose a 24-hour curfew in Lagos State. The view from the top of the tree is always the clearest”.
“But I am outraged because the penalty for the breach of a curfew by peaceful protesters should not be death”.
“What the country witnessed last night was not a legitimate attempt to disperse a crowd of young people defiantly protesting the erosion of their fundamental rights and liberty but a brutal deadly assault by the very institutions empowered by the State to protect their rights, liberty and lives”.
He noted that “the early disconnection of cameras at the toll gate, the subsequent switching off all lights around the otherwise extremely well-lit Lekki Toll Plaza at nightfall and the decision to surround the unarmed protesters (who were all the while singing our national anthem) and then open fire using live ammunition, fundamentally undermine any claims that the Government’s actions last night were a legitimate attempt to disperse a peaceful protest”.
Condemning the violence, he said that the ensuing impasse required empathy, patience, ingenuity and restraint on the part of Government: Not violence.
“There are of course those who would justify the Government’s response on the ground that the protest had to be nipped in the bud by “any means necessary”, because the peaceful protest had ostensibly been taken over by troublemakers and disgruntled opposition politicians who saw in it, an opportunity to discredit and weaken the Government for political purposes”.
He called on the Government to “take immediate steps to de-escalate and diffuse the toxic atmosphere that has emerged over the last 24 hours by holding those responsible for the shameful acts at Lekki Toll Gate last night to account swiftly, and by demonstrating through concrete actions, a genuine commitment to address the legitimate demands symbolized by #endSARS”, adding that the world is watching.
Ajumogobia urged the federal government to identify and prosecute those responsible for the attack on unarmed protesters.