*Says blank bullets not fired at anybody
*Lagos didn’t communicate curfew time
*Protesters pelted soldiers with stones
*No petition yet against us – Army
*#ENDSARS protesters’ counsel reacts
*Lekki incident cover panel’s mandates
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
The Nigerian Army on Saturday November 14, 2020 gave evidence regarding its knowledge about Lekki Toll Gate, Lagos incident, which occurred during the #ENDSARS protests that snowballed into the sad destructions of public and private assets in Lagos on Wednesday 21 October.
While insisting there was no single person killed by its soldiers, the Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Brigadier General Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo, disclosed that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu invited the military after the police had been overrun by the #ENDSARS protesters in the state, to avoid total anarchy.
General Taiwo, while testifying before the Lagos State Judicial Panel on the , gave a background information to back up his position that it was impossible for the Army to molest civilians let alone to take the lives of protesters as, according to him, the rules of engagement were strictly adhered to.
With played video footages, the General gave accounts of how police facilities and Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) were burned down by protesters, who went ahead to attack the palace of the Oba of Lagos and still proceeded to looting everywhere including the Business District Area of Lagos, Marina, Cash & Carry, Nigeria Port Authority, ShopRite both in Lekki and Songotedo, and confusion was already setting in the land.
The Commander noted that there had been alot of misinformation against the Nigerian Army, especially when the governor decided to disown his own invitation that he extended to the Army seeking for military intervention which, the General believes, was right thing to do and needless denying, since the police had been overrun.
He said, “Anything that is done in fulfilment of our constitutional mandate is always criticised. Even when you produce facts beyond refute of an incident, all we get is abuse: ‘you are lying, you are not telling the truth’, over nothing.”
Playing a video footage in evidence, General Ahmed Taiwo told the story of a woman arrested right in the premises of Shoprite in Lekki, as one of the looters, only for her, in another video marked and believed to be posted by Punch Newspaper, to claim that she was arrested by soldiers along with others on the road while she went to buy food for her four children and that she was harassed. She also claimed others arrested were released when they spoke Hausa to the soldiers.
Exposing it as one of the carefully planned misinformation against the Nigerian Army during the #ENDSARS crisis, the Army Commander said, “This was very touching story. Unfortunately for her, when I listened to the video, I, a Yoruba man, arrested her. The other officer that was with me is Yoruba. The military police, who was investigating, is from the South South. How would arrested Northerners be released because she claimed they spoke Hausa? I don’t speak Hausa. We don’t operate like that.”
He presented the original video of paraded looters sent to the media but which was repackaged, doctored to suit the falsehood the media elements wanted to promote against the Army about the hijab wearing woman arrested while looting Shoprite.
He continued that it was deliberate misinformation campaign against the Nigerian Army on the Lekki incident that, despite knowing there is no mortuary in hospital those carrying misinformation about killings in Lekki claimed, “they still put it on social media to say that the Army had packed all the dead bodies in 30 minutes.”
He, however, played and explained in evidence video clip showing a BBC report by a lady, the day after the Lekki incident, saying:
“My Lord, Chairman of the panel, members of this honourable panel, ladies and gentlemen,
“The takeaway from this is the continuous mention that soldiers were shooting in the air. The second thing, she was there on the spot, the casualty she saw had been overcome by shock and is consistent with the affidavit that was sworn to before this panel, when they said people fainted, bodies were revived.
“This is not really in the public space, because it does not fit the narratives of what some people want to hear. That is why it is not in the public space or where you see it, they will tell you it has been photoshopped, it has been manipulated.”
On the clip by Nnamdi Kanu, he dismissed as false, claims by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader that the violence leading to the destructions in Lagos was caused by Igbo, adding that most of assets destroyed in Lagos were owned by Igbo. He also spoke of video of another man, who gave Igbo 48 hours ultimatum to leave Lagos, which he described as though laughable but serious matter.
“Such people sit in the comfort of their houses in foreign nations and seek to make other people do dirty for them. They seek to put a wedge between us and between the citizens and the Nigerian Army.
“Such thing look small but, in reality, it means a lot. This is the tactics that people use to sow confusion.”
He continued as he exposed the many fake news that characterised the Lekki incident stories, “We have Photoshop images of a gun truck firing on civilians. The gun truck is what we use in the North East. What I’m wearing is multilant camouflague. The soldier on the truck used the desert camouflague and that was what is there. And if you see all the comments, people had followed for it.
“They also had a postal of fake soldiers committing atrocities, who were paraded by 81 Division during the COVID-19. They brought these pictures and said the Army is taking disciplinary measures against those that carried out the Lekki incidents,” the General gave detailed accounts.
He then moved on to the core of the issues, which is whether the military troops were deployed and by who and what was the nature of operations carried out if they were deployed.
He said troops were deployed based on invitation by Governor Sanwo-Olu and expressed concern of the Army that the governor denied invited by the Army.
“I spoke with the governor and said the Army was unhappy that he said he did not ask the Army to intervene. But I’m sure, after we have watched everything (video footages), we saw he had more than reasonable ground to ask the Army to intervene. Perhaps it was the way everything went that made him say so.”
How Sanwo-Olu invited the Army for help over hijacked #ENDSARS protests in Lagos, the Army General explained:
“That afternoon, he had called the Chief of Army Staff and the GOC after asking the Commander 9 Brigade to intervene. The Commander 9 Brigade could not intervene because the procedure was not followed and asked him to call the Chief of Army Staff and the GOC.
“It is surprising to know that the governor did not have the GOC number neither the GOC had the governor’s number.
“The GOC was on assignment in Abuja. After the sitting he came out and saw a number of missed calls and when he called back, they were able to speak at one point. But he (the governor) had called the Chief of Army Staff following which 81 Division Nigerian Army was ordered into the phase 4 on internal security operations. It was in the afternoon. I don’t have the exact time but before 4pm.
“The second (reason Army is unhappy is) that he said two people died.
“And he said yes, one person died…at Admiralty Road which is about three kilometers from that place (Lekki Toll Gate). He said he saw the police brought in a body to the mortuary in Yaba. Lekki, Yaba, the distance is far. And we listened to the BBC report about sporadic firing in Yaba,” which, in all truth, is a clear departure from the yet to be substantiated claims of massacre by military troops of protesting Nigerians in Lekki night of Tuesday 20 October 2020.
In a prepared address to the panel, the General said that, “It was these incidents that made the Governor of Lagos State asked for military intervention, and in my opinion, that was the correct thing to do since the police had been overrun and policemen were fighting for their dear lives.
“Contrary to what is out there, it was done throughout Lagos State upon receipt of Stage 4 of IS Security. Phase 4 is the immediate deployment of soldiers outside the barracks to intervene.
“Troops were deployed from Badagry, Ikorodu, Epe, Apapa, Ikeja, Alimosho and even Lagos Island to restore order. The rules of engagement for internal security were strictly followed. It is inexcusable for troops to stand aside and watch the situation deteriorate,” he said.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos, had declared a 24-hour curfew on Tuesday 20 October, earlier scheduled to begin at 4 pm. However, the time was changed to 9 pm afterwards. A few minutes before 7 pm, men in Army uniform arrived the Lekki Toll Gate where #EndSARS protesters had gathered and were dispersed with the shootings the Army confirmed took place but of blank bullets into the air.
The Army commander firmly alleged that Sanwo-Olu called on the military for support on 20 October, after the #EndSARS crisis degenerated into chaos.
Blank bullets weren’t fired at protesters
Brigadier General Taiwo, while testifying further, insisted that the military only fired into the air and not directly at the #EndSARS protesters.
Explaining that the blank bullets used cannot cause any damage to the flesh, he said if real bullets were indeed fired, one bullet had the potency to kill three persons at one shot.
Lagos didn’t communicate curfew time
General Taiwo equally said the change in timing of the curfew imposed by the Lagos Government, was not communicated to the Nigerian Army.
He said, “Due to the urgency of the situation, it is no wonder the governor declared a 24-hour curfew which was supposed to start by 4pm. Analysing that further, it shows that the situation was so dire and the governor wanted everyone off the streets.
“After some observations, this timing was shifted to 2100hrs, that is 9pm. However, these timings were not communicated to the Nigerian Army. Be that as it may, the Nigerian Army deployed immediately to forestall further break down of law and order.”
Protesters pelted soldiers with stones, bottles
The brigadier-general said the soldiers were pelted with stones and bottles, yet they were able to stop a popular hotel beside the toll gate from being razed.
No petition yet against us – Army
At the Saturday hearing, the Nigerian Army also said that it had not received any formal petition over allegation of shooting at unarmed #ENDSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, on Tuesday 20 October.
Counsel for the Nigerian Army, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), who made the assertion Saturday, said the panel had invited Brigadier General Taiwo to give evidence on behalf of the Nigerian Army over the 20 October event, but Kehinde stated why the testimony could not be given.
“I must submit today that there is no allegation whatsoever against the Nigerian Army before this panel. I repeat, as at six minutes to 11am today, no petition has been served against the Nigerian Army, if any petition has been served, we will respond,” he said.
#ENDSARS protesters’ counsel reacts
Earlier, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), the counsel representing seven #ENDSARS protesters, said that he had been unable to make a formal claim on behalf of his clients before the panel, because the panel’s Terms of Reference only covered matters relating to the Nigerian Police and the disbanded SARS, and that his complaint is against the Nigerian Army.
He also noted that the panel must be set up by a legal instrument, and apart from the tweets from the Lagos State Governor, Babajide, Sanwo-Olu, stating that a panel will be established.
“We applied for the copy of the instrument establishing the panel by the governor, but we were refused on the ground that freedom of information Act does not apply to Lagos State.
“We applied here this morning and the secretary said there is no authority that states that it should be granted to us,” Mr. Olumide-Fusika said.
He sought the panel’s directive as to whether the Nigerian Army should give evidence during proceedings because according to him, “their presence here today is not mature”.
Lekki shootings cover panel’s mandates
Meanwhile, the head of the nine-man panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi, in a ruling, stated that the alleged shootings at Lekki covered the panel’s Terms of Reference.
“The Lekki incident was not covered by the original instrument of the panel and it was amended on October 21 to include the Lekki incident.
“The amended instrument is a public document which should not be shrouded in mystery, I have a copy here with me if Mr Olumide-Fusika pleases,” Ms. Okuwobi said.
