The Nigerian Army (NA) has maintained that soldiers did not shoot at protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate area of Lagos State, even as their intervention was at the instance of the Lagos State Government (LASG), reports ITREALMS.
The Acting Deputy Director, 81 Division, Army Public Relations, Major Osoba Olaniyi in a statement on Tuesday, available to ITREALMS, described reports of a massacre by the officers as “untrue, unfounded, and aimed at causing anarchy in the country”.
Olaniyi also stated that the decision to involve the military was taken by the Lagos State Government after a 24-hour curfew was imposed.
“This was a result of the violence which led to several police stations being burnt, policemen killed, suspects in police custody released, and weapons carted away.
“The situation was fast degenerating into anarchy. It was at this point that the LASG requested for the military to intervene in order to restore normalcy,” the statement read in part.
This is coming days after the Nigerian Army had been accused of opening fire on the protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate on Tuesday, October 20.
The incident came hours after the state government declared a 24-hour curfew as part of efforts to stop the violence which had broken out in some parts of the state by criminal elements hijacking the protests.
Although the curfew was to commence at 4:00 pm, but later shifted to commence for 9:00 pm, many were still seen protesting across the state.
At the Lekki Toll Gate which had been one of the major converging points, peaceful and unarmed protesters were also still seen gathered in large numbers.
The situation, however, took a turn for the worse around 7:00 pm when the security operatives stormed the area and started shooting sporadically.
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| NA Press Release |
ITREALMS gathered that although videos that surfaced soon after online showed men in military uniform firing gunshots, the military immediately debunked the allegations, describing them as ‘fake news’.
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