Three years after the nationwide #EndSARS protest, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has spoken up about the shootings at the Lekki Tollgate that led to the death and hospitalisation of scores of unarmed protesters.
In an interview with ARISE TV on Wednesday, Sanwo-Olu spoke about the role he played during the #EndSARS protest and who ordered the military to disperse the protesters gathered at the Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2022, with gunshots which led to countless deaths.
On the role he played during the protests, Sanwo-Olu said he was the first governor to address the protesters, listen to their plight and took their demands to President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said he was also the first governor to set up a funds account for victims of police brutality to be compensated and the first governor that set up a panel to address the matter.
Responding to the long-standing question on the Lekki shooting, Sanwo-Olu said the power to give orders to the security personnel was not within his jurisdiction as a state governor.
He said, “…the incident of that night happened. I was in my house with some cabinet members so we didn’t have an idea at all. In terms of the question you asked, ‘who ordered the shooting?’, who ordered the CPS not to listen to me when I went to Magodo the other day? We had an election last Saturday, there were more military out there than the police, who ordered it?
“It’s not in my remit, it’s not in my space but if we just drop it for one second and just do a role play and ask what were my own actions before, during and after: I went out that night. I went to all the hospitals where we could have patients.
“I went out by 12 midnight and I saw things for myself, and I reported what I saw at 8 O’clock the following morning. At 10, 11 O’clock, things could have changed but I reported what I saw and I would not deny what I didn’t see to what people want me to say.”
Sanwo-Olu said he has learnt the lessons that came with the #EndSARS protest and urged Lagosians to let go of the thoughts about the incident, which he described as a ‘big burst’.
He added, “One other thing, and I’m saying this for the first time on national television, all of the people that claimed that they were either injured or affected in one form or the other, I, Babajide Sola Sanwo-Olu, have reached out to them and I’ve supported them.
“I’ve given them jobs, I’ve given them empowerment, I’ve given them things for them to start life with. And that’s why you don’t see anybody doing this campaign today, coming out to say that ‘I lost something’ because I have taken it up and I feel that’s not a thing for the papers. I feel that is something for me, as a father, as a leader to do for them and clear this air around it.”
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