The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has remained silent days after the release of the Lagos EndSARS panel report, TrackNews Online.
The panel has released its report in which it described the Lekki Toll Gate incident as a massacre, contrary to the hard stance of Mohammed.
On October 20, 2020, soldiers had shot and killed some Nigerian youths protesting against police brutality under the tag ‘EndSARS’, at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos State.
While the soldiers drafted to the scene to contain the protest allegedly shot and killed protesters, DJ Switch had transmitted the incident live to the world via her social media handles.
Following the incident, CNN had carried out an investigation, in which, it affirmed the killings of protesters by the soldiers drafted to the Lekki Toll Gate.
Dismayed, Mohammed had denied claims that soldiers had shot protesters, while accusing DJ Switch of trying to destabilize the country.
Mohammed also claimed that some proponents of the protest used the alleged massacre to paint the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government in bad light before the international community.
In a series of press conferences, the Minister denied that nobody was killed when soldiers invaded the protest scene.
He described the EndSARS “massacre” at Lekki tollgate as false, requesting for the bodies of those killed.
Mohammed also maintained that the narrative by CNN that soldiers shot live bullets at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos State was ‘fake news’.
He had tagged the widespread reports as: “Phantom Massacre at Lekki tollgate” which should be discarded.
Against the backdrop of the conflicting stories surrounding the incident, the Lagos State Government had set up the EndSARS panel to unravel the truth.
The panel released its report in the week and it indicted the Federal Government, the police, and the Nigerian Army.
The report accused the soldiers drafted to the scene of the protest of shooting live bullets and killing some protesters.
However, TrackNews Online observed that the Minister, known for describing the Lekki massacre as a hoax, has remained “mum” over the released report.
Effort to get the Minister’s reaction also failed as at the time of filing this report.
A source, however, told TrackNews Online that an official reaction is currently being prepared to set the record straight.
