By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
The Nigerian Army has consistently denied ever shooting at Lekki Toll Gate protesters, let alone killing anyone. But a forensic investigation by the CNN showed that not only did the Nigerian Army shoot directly at Lekki Toll Gate protesters, they also killed some of them.
The investigation was done by CNN multiple award winning investigative reporter, Nima Elbagir who deployed technology to verify social media claims about the Army, in league with alleged elements of the rogue Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) shot at protesters and carried their dead bodies away.
The CNN report reads in part: “Sometime after midnight on October 21, Elisha Sunday Ibanga answered a phone call from his older brother’s number.
“The person on the other end of the line — a stranger — broke the news that Ibanga’s brother, Victor, had been shot dead at the Lekki toll gate, in Lagos, Nigeria, where he had been peacefully protesting against police brutality earlier that night. ‘The person told me that the police took his body away,’ Ibanga, 24, told CNN.
“An eyewitness to Victor Sunday Ibanga’s death told CNN the 27-year-old entrepreneur was shot in the head during the protest.
“CNN has obtained and geolocated a photograph of Victor’s body lying in a pool of blood and wrapped in the white and green of the Nigerian standard — one of the same flags gripped by fellow protesters earlier in the evening as they sang the country’s national anthem. Ibanga confirmed the photograph is of his brother.
“The Ibangas are one of several families yet to locate the bodies of their missing loved ones — protestors at the toll gate — who dozens of eyewitnesses say were shot at, first by members of the Nigerian army and then hours later by police. Eyewitnesses told CNN they saw the army remove a number of bodies from the scene,” the CNN report states.