The vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Datti Baba-Ahmed, says it is ‘debatable’ to describe the shooting of #EndSARS protesters on 20 October 2020 as a massacre.
He made the remarks on Thursday during an interview session on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
Soldiers on 20 October 2020 had opened fire on Nigerians, who had converged at the Lekki tollgate to protest against police brutality, with the hashtag #EndSARS.
The incident triggered global outrage, with calls for justice echoing from different parts of the world.
In November 2021, a judicial panel set up by the Lagos State government to probe cases of police brutality, including the Lekki shooting, said protesters were killed at the tollgate in what could be described in the context of a ‘massacre’.
To honour those who lost their lives during the Lekki shooting, Nigerians gathered at the Lekki tollgate yesterday to mark the second memorial of the #EndSARS protest.
Commenting on the #EndSARS protests and the Lekki shootings, Datti-Ahmed explained that though the shootings was a violation of human rights, using ‘massacre’ to describe the event was highly debatable. According to him, massacre has different technical meanings.
“There was an abuse of human rights. There was abuse of procedure. And if some people interpret those as ‘massacre’, then yes. However, ‘massacre’ has different technical meanings. I can’t say I know all of it,” he said.
“First of all, no advance notice was given before the attack. The victims must have been attacked in their own areas. These are well-meaning Nigerians who brought themselves out in the public area and were attacked by security forces who are meant to be protecting their lives and properties.
“The use of ‘massacre’ is highly debatable, but I can say for sure that there were abuses of procedures and civil rights violations.”
