“FAKE NEWS” – That was the Nigerian Army’s first response to
reports that its personnel opened fire at the #EndSARS protest ground in Lekki,
Lagos state.
The army shared a picture of a post claiming that soldiers
were directed “to shoot at peaceful, unarmed #EndSARS protesters” at the
tollgate, stamping it with “FAKE NEWS”, its usual signature to debunk whatever
it considers unfavourable.
But with time, it became clear that the army might have a
different definition of “fake news” from the common reference to misinformation
and disinformation.
Between the time it shared the first post and Saturday, when
it appeared before the Lagos panel of enquiry, the army has debunked 18 social
media posts relating to the incident – but it has also gone ahead to admit most
of them.
Likewise Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, whose
initial response was to blame the Lekki shooting on “forces beyond our direct control.”
 |
| Sanwo-Olu is yet to react to the claim of the army that he invited them to Lekki tollgate |
Having followed developments around the Lekki shooting up
till this moment, we bring you a timeline of inconsistencies between the Lagos
government and the army:
October 20: Lagos declared a 24-hour curfew following the
violence that broke out amid the #EndSARS protests. It later shifted the
commencement of the curfew from 4pm to 9 pm.
October 20: The
army denied reports that soldiers were at the Lekki tollgate. Through its
official Twitter handle, it made the denial six times, asking people to “beware
of fake news”.
Be Aware!!! pic.twitter.com/pby5mHqmX1
— Nigerian Army (@HQNigerianArmy) October 20, 2020
October 20:
Gbenga Omotoso, Lagos commissioner of information, said the governor has
ordered a probe into “reports of shooting at the Lekki Toll Plaza”. Hours
after, the governor promised to “get to the root” of the shooting which he
blamed on “forces beyond our direct control.”
October 21:
Sanwo-Olu said, contrary to reports of mass deaths, no one died as a result of
the shooting.
October 22: The
governor said he was not aware of the person who instructed the military to be
at the tollgate, telling Arise TV: “Who gave instructions for military to be
there? It is still something we are investigating. And we have escalated it to
the highest level of military formation.”
 |
| Protesters around an army van at the scene of the shooting |
He also told the television station that two dead bodies had
been found linked to the incident in Lekki.
October 26: The
governor said the army was responsible for the shooting. He had told CNN: “From
the footage we could see, because there were some cameras at that facility, it
seems to me that they would be men in military uniform—it should be Nigerian
Army or something.”
October 27: The
army admitted in a statement that its personnel were at the tollgate but
claimed they were deployed only after being invited by the Lagos government.
Osoba Olaniyi, a spokesperson of army’s 82 division in Lagos, however, insisted
that soldiers “did not shoot at any civilian” during the protest.
October 29: Sani
Usman, former spokesman of the Nigerian Army, said soldiers deployed in the
Lekki tollgate fired blank bullets – not live bullets. According to him, “if
you look at the canisters, they were blank ammo and blank ammo don’t even kill.
At a close range, maybe 100-metres, it will have some pigmentation on your
skin.”
November 14: At
the hearing of the Lagos panel of enquiry, Ahmed Taiwo, a brigadier general of
the Nigerian Army, said the army “was unhappy that he (Sanwo-Olu) said he did
not ask the army to intervene” in the protest. He also said soldiers deployed
to quell the protests wouldn’t have gone with catapults.”
Ibrahim Taiwo, commander of the 81 division, however, said
the governor did the right thing by inviting soldiers to restore order during
the #EndSARS protest in the state.
culled: theCable
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everydayAdvertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
Let the Lagos Government, governor, Nigerian army admit that amnesty international was right alongside Nigerian youth. Apologize to the youth as a starting point. Stop all the nonesebse about criminalisation of protest #EndSARS. The constitute a panel to look at the culpability and appropriate punishments and compensation for victims families.
ReplyDelete