By Martin Cole-
There are new fears of killings by the Nigerian army, after the Nigeria’s information minister called on activists to drop plans for a protest in the commercial capital Lagos over the reopening of the site where demonstrators against police brutality were shot last year.
Sources in Lagos Nigeria fear the planned protests for Saturday could lead to a blood bath . especially after the Nigerian government has warned against the protests.
The Eye Of Media.Com has heard that concerned family members of protesters have been urging many protesters to heed the government’s warnings and cancel the plans, to avoid any potential of being killed.
Some activists are considering changing their plans, but there are still many planning to show up for tomorrow’s protests .The Nigerian central bank has frozen the bank accounts of many of the protest organisers , after they used a court order to block a number of accounts for 90 days, in order to find out the source of their funds.
Yesterday, a Federal judge ordered for the accounts to be released, following the withdrawal of the suit by counsel to the CBN, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa
Activists are determined to continue a protest for the weekend , despite the warnings to avoid them. The Nigerian authorities say the planned protests for tomorrow, Saturday, risked being “hijacked by hoodlums”.
Protesters were shot on October 20 and the early hours of October 21, 2020, by people by soldiers at the toll gate in the affluent Lekki district of Lagos.
Rights group Amnesty International said soldiers and police killed at least 12 protesters in Lekki and another district. The military and police have denied involvement. and accused the Human Rights group of providing no evidence to support their claims.
The Mayhem in October led to the deaths of six soldiers, 37 policemen and 57 civilians, as well as the destruction of 269 private and public properties, Mohammed said.
The Nigerian authorities also criticised international broadcasters, CNN, of inaccurate reporting, after the news corporation released CCTV footage of Nigerian soldiers shooting live rounds into the crowd. CNN stands by its own findings.
The investigative panel comprises an eight-person judicial panel ,set up to investigate police brutality and the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad .
The Lekki panel has so far not been able to successfully summon some members of the army to attend the panel to fully conduct their investigation into the killings.
Social media activists have called on social media for new protests on Saturday after a judicial panel authorised the reopening of the city’s Lekki toll gate, where security forces shot at peaceful protesters on October 20.
They are protesting its reopening before the commission had completed its investigation.
Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed said on Thursday peaceful protests were a constitutional right but warned of the risk that the upcoming rallies could descend into violence in the name of justice. He warned the protest risked being “hijacked by hoodlums”.
“Any further resort to violence in the name of #EndSARS will not be tolerated this time. The security agents are ready for any eventuality,” he said.
“We therefore strongly warn those who are planning to reoccupy Lekki toll gate on Saturday to desist.”
The mayhem in October led to the deaths of six soldiers, 37 policemen and 57 civilians, as well as the destruction of 269 private and public properties, Mohammed said.
Nigeria’s president has vowed to prevent repeat of anti-police brutality protests
Protests against an elite police force, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, last year led to the worst civil unrest in Nigeria since the return to civilian rule in 1999.
Endsars
Thousands of Nigerians took to the streets under the slogan “ENDSars” to protest against the force, which the demonstrators blame for killings, torture and extortion.
Though the protests were initially peaceful, demonstrators in an upmarket Lagos district were shot at on October 20 by men witnesses said were soldiers. Rights group Amnesty International said 12 protesters were killed. The army denied involvement.
The Nigerian police said 22 of their personnel were killed. and 205 buildings including police stations were damaged.
“Mr President assured Nigerians that he will do whatever it takes to ensure the repeat of ‘ENDSars’ protests does not occur in Nigeria again,” Police Minister Muhammad Dingyadi told reporters on Tuesday after a meeting of security officials and President Muhammadu Buhari in the capital, Abuja.
“What we are saying is that government will continue to dialogue, it will continue to listen and will continue to carry all stakeholders along in ensuring that there is no repeat of what happened that destroyed a lot of properties,” Dingyadi said when asked for more details on Buhari’s comments.
The SARS unit was officially disbanded in the wake of the protests, but critics of the government say it has been renamed.
The Nigerian public and the international community can only watch with baited breath.