Chief of Army Staff Tukur Burutai has repeated his false claim that nobody was killed during the #EndSARS protest at Lekki Toll Gate on October 20. 

 “I must say that the spiritual warfare seminar we had last time, helped us during the last #EndSARS protest to the extent that there was no single corpse, but some persons were seeing double at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos State,” Mr. Buratai said Friday while decorating 39 officers who were recently promoted to the rank of major-general in Abuja.

The Nigerian Army came under severe criticism following the massacre of at least nine protesters that ultimately shut down the historic protest. 

Calls have intensified for the President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure justice in the matter, with international institutions warning that Nigerian officials, including the president himself, may face sanctions if they fail to bring those responsible to book.

Mr. Buratai has consistently pushed back against attempts to hold the military to justice, insisting the soldiers who intervened in the civil protests did so in line with the Nigerian Constitution.

Military and civil authorities under the Buhari administration continue peddling the falsehood that there was no killing, ignoring widespread evidence, including a livestream on Instagram by DJ Switch and others, that confirmed deployment of troops with live ammunition. 

Hours after the deadly shooting, Peoples Gazette reported how an army major coordinated a military effort to hand over nine bodies to the police in Lagos.