The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria has called for the dismissal, arrest, and trial of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for alleged falsehood as to what transpired at the Lekki tollgate, Lagos State on October 20th, 2020.
The organisation claimed the minister lied to Nigerians, adding that his claims have now been contradicted by a judicial panel of investigators in Lagos.
This was contained in a statement issued against the backdrops of the issuance of a conclusive judicial report by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of investigations into the Lekki incident last year.
Though Lai Mohammed had claimed there was no killing, the panel said there was a massacre in ‘context’.
The PUNCH had reported that the report of the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution on Lekki Toll Gate Shooting Incident and Cases of Police Brutality, as well as human rights violations, accused the Nigerian Army and the Police of complicity in the death of protesters at the Lekki tollgate in 2020.
The 309-page report detailed how the Army and Police disregarded their rules of engagement during the protest.
The report in its executive summary, said: “The panel in its report found that on October 20, 2020, at the Lekki Toll Gate, officers of the Nigerian Army shot, injured and killed unarmed, helpless and defenseless protesters without provocation or justification, while they were waving the Nigerian flag and singing the national anthem and the manner of assault and killing could in context be described as a massacre.
“The panel also found that the conduct of the Nigerian Army was exacerbated by its refusal to allow ambulances render medical assistance to victims who required such assistance. The Army was also found not to have adhered to its own Rules of Engagement.”