Lekki Shooting: Army indicts Sanwo-Olu, give some shocking details

The Commander of the 81st Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brigadier General Ahmed Taiwo, has stated that the Nigerian Army has not been notified of the change in the curfew imposed by the Government of Lagos State on 20 October 2020.

Taiwo made this statement on Saturday in his testimony before the Lagos State Judicial Investigation Committee investigating the alleged shooting of #EndSARS demonstrators at the Lekki toll station on 20 October 2020.

The General also said that the invitation of the military was the best decision the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, could have made since the #EndSARS protest plunged the state into anarchy.

He said: “Given the urgency of the situation, it is not surprising that the Governor imposed a 24-hour curfew, which was to start at 4 pm.

“Looking at it further, it shows that the situation was so serious and the Governor wanted everyone off the streets.

“After some observations this time was changed to 9 pm.

“However, these times were not communicated to the Nigerian army.

“Be that as it may, the Nigerian army was immediately deployed to prevent a further breakdown of law and order.

It had been reported earlier that the general said on Saturday that the army was not happy that Sanwo-Olu refused the soldier’s invitation to disperse the demonstrators.

Eyewitnesses claimed that the soldiers arrived at the scene of the demonstration at around 7 pm, about two hours before curfew began.

The Governor of Lagos has been under fire since the incident involving the Lekki toll, which was condemned by local and international civil rights organisations.

Meanwhile, the army also denied the search for the famous DJ Catherine Udeh, alias DJ Switch.

She informed the State Investigation Committee for the Investigation and Compensation of Victims of SARS-related Abuses and other Matters in Lagos that she had not threatened or prosecuted any #EndSARS protesters.

There have been unconfirmed reports in the social media that Switch was granted asylum in Canada following alleged death threats for her participation in the #EndSARS protest.

She had broadcast the shooting of Lekki live on Instagram and claimed that some protesters had been shot and some victims had been taken away by the military, a claim that the military denies.

But when he testified before the committee, Brigadier General Ahmed Ibrahim Taiwo said the claim was false.

“DJ Switch” claimed that the army was looking for her. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have bigger fish to fry. In other words, how Lagos can be stabilised.

In connection with his statement, Taiwo joked about the use of a rifle on the members of the judicial enquiry committee in Lagos on Saturday.

Taiwo was answering a question from a panelist on the effects of unexploded ordnance.

The Brigadier General had said that the army had used blank ammunition instead of live ammunition to disperse the #EndSARS demonstrators at the Lekki tollgate.

“I am a munitions expert because I spent so much time in the army. But maybe you don’t want to believe me, but look for the effects of the dud munitions,” he said.

“Even if you press it to the skin and shoot it, all you’ll see is a burn mark. I wish I had a rifle to prove it to you.”

He argued that shooting peaceful civilians was against the Nigerian army’s code of conduct, saying that a single round of live ammunition is capable of killing up to three people if fired at close range.

“When fired it has a muzzle velocity of 700m per second, effectively up to 600m. This means that when fired, a rifle will kill someone at a distance of up to 600 m, depending on the skill of the shooter,” he said.

“With this heavy muzzle velocity, the damage is unimaginable when this rifle is fired at someone from 10 m away. With the crowd you see there, if they shoot, you will not have one death per person, but perhaps three deaths per person.