The protest video footage submitted to the Lagos EndSARS panel by the Lekki Concession Company, LCC has revealed that the soldiers arrived at the Tollgate in at least six vehicles, but shows no shooting.
This emerged at the resumed viewing of the video on Saturday by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Judicial Inquiry probing the alleged killing of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the Lekki tollgate on the night of October 20.
According to the footage, the scene at the tollgate was calm until about 6.43pm when the protesters started running towards the tollgate from the Oriental Hotel end.
About two minutes later, at 6.45pm, at least six military trucks with flashing headlights arrived on the scene. The arrival of the six patrol vans caused a stir among the protesters as some of them were seen receding from the scene of the protest. The security vans remained at the same spot with their siren lights swilling for the most part of the footage.
At 6.53 pm, about 10 minutes after the arrival of the military vehicles, the tollgate went into a blackout.
Two minutes later, at 6.55 pm, one of the military vehicles drove through the tollgate to the other end where the crowd of protesters was gathered.
From about 7:20 pm, the video began to show night images, with protesters still at the scene. At about 7:48 pm the video showed burning tires and remained fixated on the scene for minutes.
Nigerian youths organised the #EndSARS protests to denounced police brutality perpetrated by a notorious unit created to curb violent crimes such as kidnapping, armed robbery and other forms of banditry. However, the squad became engrossed in extortion, killings and torture.
The protest turned bloody on the night of October 20, 2020 when men in military attire fired live bullets at the protester at the Lekkin Tollgate.
Both the government and the Army have vehemently denied that the shooting was by Nigerian soldiers.
