…calls report recycled fake news
The Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohamed, has rubbished the report submitted by the Lagos State EndSARS panel, describing it as rehearsed fake news and a hoax.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the minister said there was no “massacre” at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, 2020, as claimed in the report of the Panel that leaked to the press last week when the panel submitted its report to the State government.
He said that the panel merely copied the same allegations made by Nigerians a year ago.
“It is an intimidation of the majority by a minority,” Mohammed declared. He also described the report as “tales by moonlight”.
Contrary to the position of the government that nobody was shot during the protests, the Panel in its report presented graphic details of how security agents – the Army and the Police, were called to the scene of the peaceful protest and shot at the protesters with live bullets.
It said that 48 people were victims of gunshots, with at least nine of them being declared dead.
The evidence adduced by the Panel, including the number of protesters shot dead and others with gunshot wounds was at variance with the position expounded by the government, with Mohammed as the chief proponent.
The Lagos State government has set up a committee to study the report and issue a white paper on it to determine the government’s next line of action on the report.
