An Uber driver, Adedotun was beaten, brutalized, pepper-sprayed and forcefully dragged into a black maria by operatives of the Nigerian Police Force during the #ENDSARS memorial which took place at the Lekki tollgate today.
While addressing pressmen, Adedotun said he was in his car when he heard people shouting.
He decided to run for cover and left his vehicle. He further explained that on his way back, trying to locate his car, some police officers stopped him and started dragging and beating him.
Adedotun said while he was struggling to prevent the operatives from pushing him into their van, they pepper-sprayed his eyes.
Hundreds of young Nigerians hit the streets of Lagos to commemorate the first anniversary of the attack on #EndSARS protesters at Lekki toll plaza.
Amnesty International, CNN and eyewitnesses said Nigerian troops shot live rounds and killed harmless protesters at the toll plaza on October 2020.
Cheta Nwanze, a partner at SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based socio-economic research firm, said at least 44 persons were killed at different locations – including Lekki toll plaza – that day.
“Despite the mountain of damning evidence from various panels set up in several states to investigate the atrocities, not a single arrest has been made,” Nwanze said in an op-ed published on Wednesday. “The best we have gotten is recommendations to pay compensation to victims or families of some of the affected persons.”
The Nigerian government, however, insisted that no protester was killed at the toll plaza, which has now become synonymous with the demands for better policing in Africa’s most populous country.
Information minister Lai Mohammed even demanded apologies from Amnesty International and CNN.
“No bodies, no families, no convincing evidence, nothing. Where are the families of those who were reportedly killed at the toll gate? Did they show up at the Judicial Panel of Inquiry? If not, why,” Mohammed queried.
“Sadly, the champions of a massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate, including Amnesty International and CNN, have continued to shamelessly hold on to their unproven stand”, the minister said.
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