Etim Ekpimah
Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, on Thursday, fired tear gas and water cannons at the #EndSARS memorial observers at the Lekki Tollgate.
Those who matched during the second commemoration of the #EndSARS protest in the Lekki area of Lagos State, were dispersed when the police started shooting teargas canisters and water cannons.
A motorist, who was going to Lekki, said the first teargas the police fired fell on a commuter that was going to Victoria Island.
She said: “The crowd started running away and the police chased them down to Sandfill. I was actually going to Lekki. Why must you bring armed policemen to wage war against peaceful Nigerians, who were just commemorating the #EndSARS tragedy? Everybody was running helter-skelter.
One of the participants in the #EndSARS Memorial Walk said what the participants were only saying was, “Give us justice.”
He said before anybody could knew it, the police with live bullets started shooting, chasing people all about.
A respondent, who was at the scene of the memorial, said she was baffled at the way the Nigeria Police Force was shooting and chasing Nigerians at the Tollgate.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State Command, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said in his Twitter handle that “A stich in time saves nine. They were already gathering at the tollgate as opposed to doing a peaceful procession. Minimal force was used. No injury or fatality.”
Ser Udofia@KOOLKING01, Replying to @gbengasesan@DejiAdesogan and 2 others, “I never knew mere looking at youths, you can know from their faces who is lawful and who is lawless. The police needs this kind of resource.
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, on Thursday joined the procession for the #EndSARSMemorial protest at Lekki tollgate in Lagos.
Sowore joined other activists who turned up at the tollgate with their cars.
Some Nigerians were also seen waving Nigerian flags from inside their vehicles and honking their horns while singing solidarity songs.
The protesters, who seemed happy to see Sowore at the toll gate, cheered when he arrived.
In October 2020, youths across the country took to the streets to demand an end to police brutality and extrajudicial killings, especially by the disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS).
The tollgate was the epicentre of the protests. Youths who gathered day and night at the tollgate were dispersed from the location by gun-wielding soldiers on October 20, 2020, an action which led to loss of lives.