Obafemi Hamzat, Lagos State deputy governor and 2027 governorship candidate, has admitted the killing of #ENDSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020.

Mr Hamzat, the All Progressives Congress’ candidate, made the admission on Sunday during a debate with candidates when asked what he knew about the incident at the Lekki Tollgate.

He described the incident as sad and cited the Lagos State judicial panel report.

“I will not stand here to say I’m not the deputy governor. I was in the room. Remember Lagos set up a judicial commission, funded and independent, to find the truth.

“They did their report. Lagos also did a white paper, implementing a lot of those decisions. We believe people have the right to protest. That’s why we followed the judicial commission,” Mr Hamzat said.

He said that although the military is under the control of the federal government, the state government takes responsibility for its role in the killing of protesters.

“Everybody knows the military is a function of the federal government,” he said. “To say that Lagos State has anything to do. We accept. I will never run over the killing of citizens.”

Mr Hamzat’s remarks come six years after #EndSARS, a protest against years of extortion and extra-judicial killings by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigerian police, ended on a bloody note as the Nigerian military opened fire on protesters gathering at Lekki Tollgate in Lagos.

The judicial panel report on #ENDSARS that Mr Hamzat cited was released a year later, detailing the role of the Lagos government in the October 20, 2020 incident.

“The panel found that there was an invitation of the Nigerian Army to Lagos State made by the Lagos State government through the governor,” the report stated, adding, “before the hierarchy of the Nigerian Army deployed its soldiers to the Lekki Toll Gate on the night of October 20.”

The report also indicted Nigerian soldiers, recommending the dismissal of soldiers who shot and killed unarmed, peaceful protesters.

In July 2023, a leaked memo revealed plans by the Lagos government to secretly conduct mass burial for 103 EndSARS massacre victims, sparking widespread criticism of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, former President Muhammadu Buhari and former Chief of Army Staff Tukur Buratai.

Though Mr Sanwo-Olu had earlier denied there was no massacre during the EndSARS protest, he said the 103 bodies of #EndSARS massacre victims were picked up on the streets of Lagos, blaming families of the deceased for abandoning the bodies of their loved ones to the state for nearly three years.