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What happened today was a repeat of what happened last year, October 20, 2021, when youths also gathered at the Lekki toll gate to mark the anniversary of the shooting of unarmed protesters by soldiers of the Nigerian Army during the #EndSARS protests on October 20, 2020.
To date the government has failed to take responsibility for the incident, even though ex-army spokesperson, John Enenche, acknowledged the events of that night last week.
Although the gathering at the Lekki toll gate was planned as a peaceful march, a large number of policemen were deployed at the scene.
The situation began to change when delivery personnel, with MD Koso, Jacob Jackson, alighted from his bike to pay his respects. He told The ICIR that he could have died during the #EndSARS protest exactly two years ago.
He said, “I could have been among the people that died,” before breaking down in tears. He was later interrogated by the police and taken away for some time.
He returned after 20 minutes and proceeded to leave the venue on his bike.
A police officer, Raji Ganiyu told The ICIR that the youths were not expected to disrupt the traffic at the toll gate.
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He said, “If they move in the cars, there is no problem. If they converge then there is a problem.”
Later on, several protesters appeared on the scene, bearing caskets, blaring their car horns, and singing solidarity songs.
Among them was rapper, Folarin Falana also known as Falz, social media influencer Feyikemi Abudu, and comedian, Adebowale Adebayo, also known as Mr. Macaroni. They marched through the toll gate twice from Lekki Phase One to Oriental Hotel.
The group moved in two lines allowing vehicles to pass.
Falz said the essence of the march was to pay respects to those who lost their lives at the toll gate two years ago.
He said, “We are here to commemorate the lives of the ones that we lost to the hands of police brutality and to also ask for justice because justice has not been done and nobody has been punished or brought to book.
“A panel was set up and recommendations were made by this panel and it said people were killed and members of the Nigerian Army were culpable. The most important aim is to remember some of the bravest people that we ever had in this country.”
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