The police in Lagos have turned down Nigerian Army’s request to hand over nine bodies from tonight’s massacre in Lekki, Peoples Gazette can report based on corroborated accounts of two security officials.

A Nigerian Army major called a deputy police commissioner in Lagos Tuesday night, informing him of the need to take possession of the bodies and register them at the morgue.

The police chief initially said they would communicate the matter to the Force Headquarters, then abruptly rejected the request entirely and advised the military to deposit the bodies at the morgue by themselves.

The officials said they could not immediately tell whether or not all the bodies were from the Lekki massacre that occurred on Tuesday evening.

“But we have not heard of soldiers operating anywhere else this night,” a senior security officer said. “So we believe the nine bodies they were talking about are from the Lekki incident.” 

It was not immediately clear whether the Army has finally been able to preserve the bodies.

A spokesman for the Nigerian Army 81 Division in Lagos did not immediately return requests seeking comments from the Gazette Tuesday night. A police spokesman also declined to officially comment on the matter. 

Nigeria has been in mourning over heavy casualties inflicted on #EndSARS protesters in Lagos Tuesday evening. 

Witnesses said the military shut off security cameras and street lights in the area before opening live rounds on protesters who were unarmed. 

A livestream of the violence showed the heavy military gunfire and the ensued deaths. The Gazette initially reported at least eight deaths based on reports from the live videos. Another report said at least 11 people were killed.