CNN nails Nigerian Army’s shooting at Lekki protesters in forensic investigation

By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor

Nima Elbagir, the multiple award winning CNN investigative reporter probed the allegation whether the Nigerian Army shot live bullets at protesters in Lekki Toll Gate.

The Nigerian Army has consistently claimed that only blank bullets were fired in the air and not at protesters. But the investigation showed that not only did the Nigerian Army used live bullets against the protesters, they also killed a number of the protesters, lending credence to eye witness accounts who made similar claim.

The CNN report was well rounded in the sense that it deployed technology to authenticate video footage, especially those that were shared via social media.

The bullets that were recovered from the scene of the shooting were also tracked to be the same weaponry being used by the Nigerian Army, thereby disproving Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami’s claim that the shooters were hoodlums.

Here’s a bit of the CNN findings: “In several of the videos, reviewed and verified by CNN, some of the protesters can be seen carrying bodies, the flashlights on their phones the only thing illuminating the darkness as the sound of ambulance sirens wail in the background. It is not known whether these were dead or injured protesters.

“In another, there are several injured people, some on the ground bleeding while defiant protesters continued to wave Nigerian flags….

“CNN has examined bullet casings found at the scene and confirmed with current and former Nigerian military sources that the bullet casings match those used by the army. Two ballistics experts have also confirmed with CNN that the shape of the bullet casings indicate they used live rounds, which contradicts the army’s claim they fired blanks….

“And working with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, CNN has established that several of the bullets from the Lekki toll gate originated from Serbia. Export documents CNN has seen show that Nigeria purchased weaponry from Serbia almost every year between 2005 and 2016,” the CNN investigation revealed.