Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture
…Says panel’s allegations against security forces are fake.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has, unsurprisingly, dismissed the report of a judicial panel that investigated the shooting of peaceful protesters in Lagos last year.
Security forces attacked the protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020 in an aggressive attempt to dismantle the symbolic stronghold of historic demonstrations against police brutality.
Eyewitnesses reported numerous fatalities from the night, but the government, led by Mohammed, has run an aggressive counter-campaign insisting no one was killed by security agents.
A judicial panel of inquiry set up days after the shooting finally submitted its report on November 15, 2021, confirming the claims of eyewitnesses that a massacre happened.
The panel established that at least nine protesters were killed, with four others missing presumed dead.
Dozens of others were similarly injured, first by the soldiers, and later by police officers who also tried to cover up their involvement.
Mohammed described the report as fake news and ‘tales by moonlight’ at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, November 23.
The minister noted that the report, which was leaked to the public, was filled with discrepancies that invalidate its authenticity.
He also repeated claims that the incident was a ‘phantom massacre’, and the panel’s conclusions not backed by verifiable facts.
“There’s absolutely nothing in the report that is circulating to make us change our minds that there was a massacre in Lekki on October 20, 2020,” he said.
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