Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers in the House of Representatives say President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime and the Nigerian minister of information Lai Mohammed have questions to answer on the killing of protesters at Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020. 

The minority caucus led by Ndudi Elumelu in a statement on Thursday made this call while reacting to the report by the judicial panel set up by Lagos State government to investigate cases of police brutality in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest. 

“The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives, after a thorough review of the report of the Lagos State EndSARS judicial panel, holds that the attempt by officials of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to cover up the now confirmed massacre of Nigerians youths by security forces at the Lekki Tollgate suggests a high-level state-backed conspiracy against Nigerians.

“The confirmation by the Lagos Panel that there was indeed a massacre at the Lekki Tollgate during the 2020 EndSARS protests in Lagos and that APC government-controlled security forces carted away bodies and mopped up evidence, places a huge burden on the Federal Government which had vehemently denied any killings,” the statement read in part.

The minority caucus also called for the immediate sack of minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, for “rushing to the media, ahead of the judicial panel, to insist that there were no killings at Lekki Tollgate, even in the face of testimonies of witnesses at the sad event.”

The Lagos judicial panel in its report says Nigerians military and police brutalised and killed protesters at Lekki Tollgate on October 20, debunking pro-government propaganda that nobody was killed during the historic protest against police brutality. 

The report also said governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu invited the Nigerian soldiers who massacred unarmed and peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate, while recommending that soldiers deployed to the Tollgate be dismissed from service.