By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Riled by the damning report of the Cable News Network, the Federal Government on Thursday insisted that there were no mass killings at the Lekki toll gate in the wake of the #EndSARS protests contrary to the general belief.
CNN in the report titled, “They pointed their guns at us and started shooting: How a bloody night of bullets and brutality quashed a young protest movement,” which aired on Wednesday, alleged massacre of peaceful protesters at Lekki tollgate plaza on the night of Tuesday, October 20 by Nigerian soldiers who were drafted by the government to quell the protest.
But addressing a press conference in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, accused those alleging massacre at the toll gate of deliberately misleading the world.
He ridiculed the report saying, “We can say that the world has just witnessed a massacre without bodies” in Lekki.
The minister, who insisted that the military did not shoot at protesters at the toll gate, asked anyone who has contrary proofs to make them available to the panel investigating the matter.
Mohammed said the government was satisfied with the way security agencies handled the protests.
The minister, not only took a swipe at CNN for the report, which he described as “blatantly irresponsible,” but also threatened to sanction the U.S. broadcast behemoth.
Describing the event of October 20, 2020 as a “massacre without bodies”, Mohammed insisted that not a single body has been produced or a single family has come out to claim their family member was killed at the Lekki tollgate.
The minister alleged that CNN relied on social media video without verification to produce its report.
“This should earn CNN a serious sanction for irresponsible reporting,” Mohammed fumed.
He also said the government stands by last Saturday’s testimony of the Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, who told the Judicial Panel of Inquiry instituted by the Lagos State Government that blank bullets were fired at the toll gate.
He advised persons with evidence on the Lekki shootings to give its testimony before the panel.
He also said some “unscrupulous persons” including celebrities circulated fake news on the social media that aggravated the violence that trailed the two-week demonstration.
