The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has said it is unavoidably and painfully clear that there were a number of casualties as a result of gunfire at the Lekki Toll Gate yesterday.
This comes after the Nigerian Army termed news of soldiers’ shooting at Lekki protesters as ‘Fake News’.
The Speaker disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday evening, nearly 24 hours after the incident in Lagos that led to an outbreak of violence in the state.
Events in my home state Lagos, last night and up until this afternoon, have left my heart heavy and my spirit disturbed.
— Femi Gbajabiamila (@femigbaja) October 21, 2020
Backstory
Nairametrics had earlier reported that several social media accounts revealed peaceful protesters were allegedly being shot at by the military at the Lekki toll holdout.
The Nigerian Army, however, denied deploying soldiers to attack #EndSARS protesters who assembled at the Lekki Toll Plaza.
In today’s statement, the speaker said the events in his home state have left his heart heavy and his spirit disturbed.
“After sixty years, our democracy should have grown beyond the point where conflicting visions of nationhood would result in violence on the streets and blood on the ground.
” It is unavoidably and painfully clear that there were a number of casualties as a result of gunfire at the Lekki Toll Gate,”
He called for a quick and thorough investigation to determine the facts of what happened last night in Lagos. “Our nation urgently needs and the Nigerian people deserve an account of the acts that led to the events of last night,” he said.
The Speaker urged protesters to be calm across the country, as the FG works to get a truer picture of events in Lagos and across the nation.
“Too much blood has already been spilled in our country, let there be no more,” Gbajabiamila concluded.
