Salisu Bello, the Commanding officer of the 65 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, has claimed his men were attacked at the Lekki Toll Gate nevertheless didn’t engage in an open fire on them.
Bello made this revelation while appearing before the Lagos Judicial panel who are investigating the Lekki massacre. He disclosed that he gave out water and drinks to a few of the peaceful protesters in person while he convinced them to go home.
He also revealed that he was approaching the Lekki-Ajah Expressway around 6:45 pm when he heard gunshots at the Toll Plaza.
This was when the peaceful protesters turned into a mob.
In his words...
“On getting to the tollgate, I persuaded the crowd to go home and observe the 24-hour curfew declared by the state government. But surprisingly, the hoodlums continued throwing stones, bottles and other dangerous objects at us and were burning tyre.
“I again fired some blank ammunition upward to scare the hoodlums away. But some protesters who were still at the tollgate sitting down quietly were given water and drinks by me while pleading with them to go home.
“We did not fire at the protesters. Blank ammunition were fired upward to scare the hoodlums from the crowd. Nobody was shot dead at the Lekki tollgate, there was no massacre as claimed. The claim that the military took away dead bodies was not true. The protesters were happy to see us as indicated in some of the video clips of 20th October 2020.”
Meanwhile, the Commander, 81 Division Garrison, VI, Brig Gen Francis Omata said;
“On arrival at the tollgate at about 7.30pm, I met a rowdy situation. I also met the Commanding Officer, 65 Battalion (Bello), who briefed me on the situation. He briefed me that he met a hostile crowd, hoodlums mixed with the protesters, who were chanting and throwing stones at them. I was able to disperse the crowd by firing blank ammunition into the air.
“At this point, stones and sticks were being thrown at us. Then I moved to a safe area and briefed General Officer Commanding 81 Division, Maj Gen Godwin Ahamefuna Umelo by phone.
“The General Officer Commanding directed me to pacify the hostile crowd and move the troops back to base. However, the crowd still continued chanting #EndSARS. I then instructed the troops to withdraw to base.”
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