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Some Nigerian youths carried dummy coffin as they staged a memorial walk for the October 20, 2020 EndSARS lekki shootings along the Lekki tollgate on Thursday morning October 20..
Led by actor Mr Macaroni and rapper Falz, the youths walked down rge tollgate in memory of the 2nd anniversary of the Lekki tollgate shooting.
International Afrobeats star, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun better known as Wizkid, has spoken on why he lent his voice to the #EndSARS campaign last year.
In a new interview with Vogue UK, the singer also discussed his recent tour, being a father and world domination.
Wizkid revealed that he’s always vocal about political injustice being meted out on Nigerians so that there can be visible progress in the society.
Speaking about his upbringing in Surulere, Big Wiz said;
There are no amount of words I can put together to make you understand what Lagos is, to explain the hustle, or the political injustice, the strength of the people or the number of amazing creatives.”
On why he felt the need to speak up and join the EndSARS protests in October 2020, the Grammy-winner said;
”It was very important for me to be direct and vocal because I’ve always been direct and vocal about political injustice in Nigeria To see that conversation happen and know that we’re one step forward from where we used to be, that’s amazing to me. And there’s no question I’ll keep speaking out loud.”
In October 2020, waves of protests rocked different cities in Nigeria and abroad. Wizkid who was in UK at the time, joined the Nigerians protesting in London.
Human rights activist and lawyer, Kenechukwu Okeke has reportedly been murdered in Anambra state.
His family made the disclosure to Daily Post on Thursday, stating that Okeke was allegedly macheted by his attackers numbering seven in his compound and a keg of fuel poured on him before he was lit up and left to burn to death.
The controversial activist had filed criminal complaints before a magistrate court in Abuja against 50 persons over their alleged involvement in #EndSARS protests last year.
Some of the persons listed in the suit include Nigerian football star, Kanu Nwankwo, musicians’ Folarin Falana, better known as Falz, Innocent Idibia aka Tubaba, and David Adeleke better known as Davido.
Daily Post reports that Okeke was killed in Nkpor, near Onitsha, Anambra State, in the presence of his wife, Mrs Blessing Odinakachi Okeke and his little daughter.
Okeke’s wife was quoted as saying; “Kenechukwu Okeke was killed by his tenant.
”The Tenant, Chiadiobi, was living in our house, but when he packed out without our knowledge and asked to be given two months of his rent that he left, we told him he should have notified us that he was packing out.
“My husband was not around the day he came but I told him he packed out of the house without our knowledge and should not be given back any money. He threatened to deal with us, saying he will teach my husband a lesson. I called my husband and told him what the boy said and that he should not come to confront him, since they say he is a bad boy.
My husband later reported the matter to the DSS and to the police, and he was made to write an undertaking, but he was still coming to terrorize us. Sometimes he will come to our house and break open the gate and come in and pick whatever he wants to pick.
“One day, he came to our house and my husband confronted him, without knowing that he had many boys with him downstairs, and before my husband could do anything, they macheted him, and the fuel we wanted to pour into our gen, they poured it on him and lit him up, and that was how my husband died.
“That day was Sunday and not everyone was around, and the few people around tried to quench the fire and also stop it from burning our house, and later we took him to hospital in Enugu, and that was how he died.”
Mrs Okeke lamented that since after her husband’s death in October, the family has been left alone with the burden of catering for his burial, just as no mention or quest by any organisation to take up his matter has been heard of.
She said what was more heart-rending was that her husband’s killer; Chiadiobi, is still in the neighbourhood, bragging about having dealt with Okeke, while also confronting her husband’s aged mum.
“He even recently confronted my husband’s mother, warning her that he heard that she is taking the matter up, and was warning her to be careful. The boy is still free, going around and without remorse, and we are just left alone to do the arrangements of the burial.
“Up till now, he has not been arrested, even though we took him to police and DSS, and he was made to write an undertaking that he will not disturb us again, but he has finally killed him. I’m not even understanding the police on this matter. I’m confused. The boy is behaving like he is untouchable, and everyone is saying that he is a bad boy and we should be careful. We live in Nkpor, near Onitsha, Tarzan junction.”
Spokesperson of the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Toochukwu Ikenganyia, when contacted by Daily Post, said that the police is aware of the matter.
It is a reported case, but for now I can tell you that the matter is still sketchy. Just give me some time, I will get back to you with the full details of the matter,” he said.
Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a lawyer who was a member of the Lagos Judicial Panel for SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters, has queried the intentions of the state government in the wake of the report’s publication.
Adegboruwa made this assertion via a statement he published on Tuesday, in Lagos State.
Even though the panel functioned under the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), never tried to influence the decisions, Adegboruwa said, “the response of the same government to the outcome of the Panel’s activities is rather shocking.
“If ever the government had a preconceived idea of what happened at the Lekki Toll Gate, this was not disclosed to us at all.”
He stated that the members proceeded upon the premise that they were free to dig out the truth and nothing but the truth.
If judicial officers are given free hand to operate without undue interference, justice will come back to our land, impunity will cease and everyone will fall in line”, he added.
Nonetheless, he commended Sanwo-Olu for assembling men and women of integrity, many of whom he never met including Justice Okuwobi.
“The Chairperson is a no-nonsense and fearless judicial officer, who had demonstrated rare integrity on the Bench before she retired honourably.
“She recorded all proceedings of the Panel in longhand and had her own personal record and files for every petition.
“The other Panel members were people with vast experiences in human rights, civil society organisations, criminology, and indeed general law enforcement mechanisms.
“There were no preconceived notions or ideas but rather superiority of intellectual arguments based on rational convictions.”
A member of the #EndSARS Lagos State Judicial Panel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has responded to an unnamed senior counsel to the state government who cast aspersions on his integrity over his appearances at the hearings.
Adegboruwa made this clarification on Friday via a statement ‘EndSARS Panel: I Acted on The Mandate of The Governor.’
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who refused to name the critic, revealed that the said person had urged Nigerians to reject the report of the panel because he (Adegboruwa) signed it and was not present at some of the sittings.
He also said, “There are documents to back up and defend the report submitted to the governor by the panel, but I have chosen to defer to His Excellency and to await the White Paper as promised because I believe that the governor meant well in setting up the panel and giving us free hand to operate.
There is no minority report from the panel as the report submitted to the governor on November 15, 2021, was unanimously endorsed by all members of the panel, who worked tirelessly, day and night, to serve the government and the people, even at great risks to their health, personal safety, career and family obligations, and their general well-being.
I’m very sure that panel members would have been lionised to the highest heavens if we had bought into the narrative of the government before the panel that it was criminals, cultists, hoodlums, and unknown gunmen that operated at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.
All Panel members acted in good faith, independently and in the fear of God Almighty. My principled struggles in respect of toll fee collection started way back from 2011, almost nine years before the Panel was inaugurated.
“Indeed, the governor said that these were the factors that favoured my selection as a member of the panel. Will I then deny myself, forfeit my reputation and discredit my constituency, my colleagues in the Nigerian Bar Association, and comrades in civil society, in order to please anybody or cover up the truth? NEVER!”
“I urge the government to focus on the findings and far-reaching recommendations contained in the report, in order to pursue the laudable objectives of setting up the panel to achieve true healing and reconciliation, instead of seeking to demonise panel members and their report or to evade responsibility,” the senior advocate said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed why the federal government is yet to implement recommendations by the Lagos state judicial panel report on the Lekki tollgate incident and other states’ EndSARS panel reports.
Speaking at a meeting with United States secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in Abuja, on Thursday, Buhari said he will await the steps taken by governors before the federal government takes action on the reports of the judicial panels of inquiry set up by states to investigate incidents of police brutality.
Rivers, Delta, Ogun states, among others, had earlier submitted their reports, but the Lagos panel presented its report to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Monday. In its findings, the Lagos panel said security operatives “killed unarmed protesters” who had gathered at the Lekki tollgate.
A statement released by Special Assistant to the President on Media and Pubicity, Femi Adesina, quoted Buhari as saying that state governments will have to take steps on the reports of their panels, before the federal government acts on the recommendations.
“So many state governments are involved, and have given different terms of reference to the probe panels.
“We at the federal have to wait for the steps taken by the states, and we have to allow the system to work. We can’t impose ideas on them. Federal government has to wait for the reaction of the states,” he said.
On his part, the US secretary of state described the report of the #EndSARS probe panel as “democracy in action”, and said he looks forward to necessary reforms within security agencies.
Nigerian recording artiste and activist, Folarin Falana, better known as Falz has taken to his Instagram page to advocate for justice for the victims of the Lekki Tollgate shootout during the #EndSARS protest in October 2020.
Falz who was among the outspoken celebrities during the heat of the #EndSARS protest in 2020 stated that the Nigerian government has failed to punish the perpetrators of the shootout since the incident happened one year ago.
Speaking further via an Instagram post on Friday, October 15, the singer also reacted to the decision of the state Commissioner of Police barring interested persons from staging any #EndSARS remembrance protest.
Falz mentioned in his post that innocent people were killed just because they were asking “not to be killed or brutalized”.
Here is what the rapper published on his Instagram page;
”20:10:20 [update]
They killed innocent souls that were simply asking not to be killed or brutalized.
A year later, no one has been punished yet for those heinous crimes.
A supposed Police Commissioner “warned” against citizens exercising their fundamental human rights. Yes, a Police Commissioner.
A couple of well meaning citizens decided to put together a summit to reflect on last year’s events & honour the lost souls. Event centre pulls out (“instructions from above”)
As I type this, there is already HEAVY police presence at the Lekki toll gate.
Best thing they could come up with is organizing “concerts” to try and distract us from remembering the real heroes in all of this. The people they murdered.
What we will never do, however, is be quiet.
We will NEVER EVER EVER EVER be silenced.
Not today, not on the 20th, not ever.”
There was drama during the sitting of the Lagos state judicial panel on Tuesday, when Ndukwe Ekekwe, a petitioner who was paralysed as a result of police brutality, was awarded compensation.
Doris Okuwobi, the panel chairperson, awarded the sum of N7.5 million to the petitioner on Tuesday.
The petitioner, who is a shop owner at Alaba international market, had told the panel how officers of the now-disbanded special anti-robbery squad (SARS) came to his shop in 2018 and threw him from a two-storey building, leaving his spinal cord damaged.
Immediately the announcement of the compensation sum was made, the petitioner and his mother reacted, saying the money is not enough.
The petitioner, who appeared before the panel on a wheelchair, said he spent more than N30 million to treat himself, adding that his shop has become empty.
“Maybe they think I’m an illiterate. All those investments, I sold all of them. My shop is currently empty. I sold everything. I spent everything to take care of myself in the hospital. What is N7.5 million?” the petitioner queried.
The aged mother of the petitioner also created a mild drama at the panel as she was shouting, saying she had also sold some landed properties to ensure that her son was able to get back on his feet.
Amid the drama, the petitioner and his mother angrily left the courtroom to continue their protest.
Outside the courtroom, the petitioner’s counsel appealed to him to enter the courtroom and collect his cheque from the panel.
Presenting the N7.5 million cheque to the petitioner, Okuwobi urged him to accept the compensation.
A man has graduated from University as an amputee after he was allegedly hit by a stay bullet while taking part in the End SARS protest.
The man was reportedly protesting with others at Auchi when a bullet hit him in the leg. As a result, one of his legs had to be amputated.
A photo of him, taken immediately after his final exams, shows him on crutches as his friends sign on his shirt with a marker.
The caption on the photo reads: “Few months back before ENDSARS he was with his 2 legs and now he’s graduating with 1 leg after a stray bullet from Army hit his leg in Auchi during the Protest. My heart bleed after seeing this. Don’t give up bro, you destiny will never be wasted.”
Two petitioners have been awarded N10 million each , as compensation by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Restitution and Inquiry. The panel was set up to investigate cases of police brutality especially involving officers of the now-defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
The two petitioners, Kudirat Obayomi and Hannah Olugbodi were awarded the compensation on Friday.
Olugbodi, a 35-year-old hairdresser, had on November 2020, narrated how she ended up on a crutch after her left leg was shattered by a stray bullet fired by some men of the disbanded police Special Anti-Robbery Squad who were attempting to arrest a young man with tattoos in June 2018 at the Ijeshatedo area of Lagos.
Following his release from the police custody after joining the #occupylekkitollgate protest, MC Macaroni has released a video.
Listen to what he said!
A Comedian, Debo Adebayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni, was on Saturday arrested by the Lagos State Police Command over the #OccupyLekkiTollGate.
Though details of his arrest are still sketchy, a friend of the comedian said he was arrested at the Lekki Tollgate.
“He was harassed as well, they picked him up at the toll plaza and was put inside their Black Maria vehicle,” he said.
The plan to hold #OccupyLekkiTollGate protest started after the controversial ruling of the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry to reopen the Lekki toll gate.
The panel, headed by Doris Okuwobi, a retired judge, on Saturday, ruled in favour of the Lekki Concession Company, LCC, to repossess the toll plaza for repairs and insurance claims.
The ruling was supported by five members out of the nine-man panel, with four other members, including Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and the youth representatives opposing the ruling.
The police have also arrested about 20 other protesters at the toll gate on Saturday.
Following the approval to reopen Lekki Tollgate by Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up by the Lagos State government to investigate the October 2020 Lekki shooting incident, many Nigerians have taken to Twitter to protest that those who carried out the alleged shooting of innocent citizens must face the law before Lekk tollgate can be reopened.
The #OccupyLekkiTollGate which is another wave of protest against injustice and government’s silence over the Lekki shootings is scheduled to kick off on 13th February 2021, according to Twitter sources.
The nine-man panel returned the control of the tollgate to the Lekki Concession Company, the operators, on Saturday.
The company, through its counsel, had been praying the panel to allow it to take over the plaza for repair and insurance claims since December 2020.
Over the last four months, an outpouring of support for Nigerian protesters has played out on Twitter, with various hashtags, but predominantly #EndSARS.
He was arrested for covering his number plate. He was held for hours for being rude to the Divisional Police Officer of the Mosafejo division in Oshodi.
A student of the University of Lagos, John Akinwale, has landed in the hospital after a power-drunk policeman tortured him to a coma in the Mosafejo, Oshodi area of Lagos State.
SaharaReporters learnt that Akinwale was arrested on Monday around 2 pm, after he bought fuel at a filling station, by police officers attached to the Mosafejo division.
It was gathered that the operatives extorted N5000 from the UNILAG student, who is also an activist, before dragging him to a police station.
According to a witness, Akinwale was arrested for having a “covered number plate.”
After the extortion, the policemen, not done, beat Akinwale to a coma, for being “rude” after which he was rushed to a hospital.
A source said, “John came out from the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority office and drove into a filling station. The policemen rushed at him just as he was about to leave the station.
“They collected N5000 from him and they dragged him to a police station. He collapsed in police custody after being beaten up by the officer. He was arrested for covering his number plate. He was held for hours for being rude to the Divisional Police Officer of the Mosafejo division in Oshodi.
“It was when he became unconscious that he was rushed to a hospital. It is now that he is regaining consciousness that he confirmed that he was hit by objects by the policemen.”
“I saw him use medication for Typhoid earlier that morning. We first thought it was the medication that reacted in his body. But the doctor at the hospital confirmed that it was not the drugs but that he was hit with an object.
“When he regained consciousness, he stated the same thing that the policemen beat him up,” another source said.
SaharaReporters was told that the matter was brought to the attention of the Area Commander but instead of him to scold the policemen over the brutality, he only called the DPO to ask him to consider releasing Akinwale.
A High Court in the Federal Capital Territory has stopped the prosecution of Pastor Sam Adeyemi of Daystar Christian Centre, Burna Boy, Davido, Falz, activist Deji Adeyanju and others over the #EndSARS protest.
The High Court ordered a Magistrate court to immediately stop proceedings and stay action against 50 persons who supported the #EndSARS protests, following a criminal complaint filed by lawyer Kenechukwu Okeke.
Okeke in his suit alleged that during the riot, properties were destroyed and the defendants who promoted the #EndSARS protests must be held responsible for it and also brought to justice.
Justice Bello Kawu who delivered a judgement on the application filed by Activist Deji Adeyanju (one of the defendants) for a judicial review of the substantive matter before the magistrate, said;
“An order of this honourable court granting leave to the application to issue and serve on the defendant an application for judicial review against the proceedings/direct criminal complaint of Hon. Omolola Tolulope Akindele sitting at Chief Magistrate Court II, Wuse Zone 6 in the suit of Kenechukwu Okeke Vs Deji Adeyanju and 49 others in suit No. CR/49/2020.
“An order of this honourable court, that on the grant of the above orders herein, serve as stay of all proceedings on the direct criminal complaint Omolola Tolulope Akindele sitting at Chief Magistrate Court II, Wuse Zone 6 in the suit of Kenechukwu Okeke Vs Deji Adeyanju and 49 others in suit no. CR/49/2020.
“An order of this honourable court, that on the grant of the above orders herein, same order as granted by the honourable court shall restrain the Nigeria Police Force, 2nd and 3rd defendants from taking any further steps, arresting and or taking any unconstitutional/illegal steps in the form of any guise as it concerns the subject matters whatsoever before this court herein as it concerns all parties in the proceedings.”
A petitioner, Mr Anthony Ogbevon has sought a compensation of N50 million and the release of his bus which according to him, was confiscated after being paraded for kidnapping and robbery even before investigation.
Mr Ogbevon was speaking on Friday before the Edo State Judicial Panel Of Inquiry for victims of SARS and related abuses, narrated how he was brutalised by the Nigeria Police following his refusal to help convey some alleged kidnappers with his bus to the state CID headquarters in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
Thereafter, he was accused of being a kidnapper and then detained.
According to him, after his arrest in June, 2020, his vehicle which was confiscated at the time is still yet to be released to him.
The matter which had been heard earlier at the high court, exonerated him of all allegations put before him which led to his release. But beyond that, Ogbevon sought a compensation of N50 million for the unlawful arrest, detention and brutality he allegedly suffered.
The chairman of the panel, Justice Ada Ehigiamusoe rtd., therefore, appointed some members of the panel for a locus visitation of the matter and adjourned till January 19, 2021 for review.
Some members of the panel had earlier visited the locus of some other matters which had been heard in the past few days.
The activists were said to have written their statements but according to sources, the police claimed they were still studying the contents
The personal physician to human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has arrived at the headquarters of the Intelligence Response Team in Guzape, Abuja, formerly used as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad office.
The doctor arrived at the detention facility to carry out a medical examination on him following the injuries inflicted on him by the police.
Armed policemen had on New Year’s Eve brutalised and arrested Sowore, alongside four others.
They inflicted injuries on him, with a deep cut on his nose bleeding profusely.
One of those arrested with him, Michael, was also injured in the mouth during the incident.
The activists were said to have written their statements but according to sources, the police claimed they were still studying the contents as at the time of writing this report.
It is not yet clear what offence the police are planning to file against the activists.
Many Nigerians have condemned the police for using brutal force in an attempt to arrest innocent and unarmed Nigerian citizens who chose to celebrate the crossover into the New Year with a candlelight procession.
Prominent Black Lives Matters activists and celebrities have written to Nigeria’s president demanding justice over the treatment of people during protests against police brutality.
The group, which includes singer Alicia Keys and campaigner Greta Thunberg, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to free jailed protesters.
They also called for a “transparent investigation” into the alleged killing of protesters by armed forces.
“We cannot stay silent,” they said.
Witnesses say they saw soldiers open fire on protesters in Lagos on 20 October after weeks of protests, which began against the much-hated police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), but then morphed into greater calls for better governance.
“In the midst of a global pandemic, your people sought to bring peace and justice to their land, and they made Africa and its diaspora proud in doing so,” the letter to President Buhari said.
“Yet their peaceful requests were met with state-sanctioned violence and suppression, as your administration meted out unwarranted force against its own unarmed citizens.”
The letter was organised by #BlackLivesMatter movement co-founder Opal Tometi, and timed to coincide with International Human Rights Day.
Other signatories included actors Kerry Washington, Danny Glover and Mark Ruffalo, as well as writers Afua Hirsch, Reni Eddo-Lodge and Naomi Klein.
“As people who have supported the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and throughout the diaspora, we cannot be silent when similar atrocities take place in African countries,” the letter said.
“We demand respect for the Nigerian people, especially as they engage in their constitutional right to protest grave injustices.”
As well as demanding the release of all jailed protesters, activists and journalists, the signatories demand that all soldiers and security officials responsible for the alleged shooting at Lekki Toll Gate on 20 October are held to account, and that the ban on peaceful protests is lifted.
Amnesty International says 12 people were killed in the shooting, although the Nigerian army insists its soldiers were firing blank bullets.
A judicial panel has been set up in Lagos to investigate both events at Lekki and the activities of Sars. While it promises neutrality and justice, some protesters say they fear government retribution if they speak out.
Since the protests, a number of activists say they have been targeted by the authorities, the BBC’s Mayeni Jones reports. Some have had their bank accounts frozen by the Nigerian Central Bank and some have been detained without charge, before being eventually released.
According to the minister, the just concluded #The EndSARS protest, which gripped the whole country, has caused a lot of suffering to the people.
The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is aware of the current hardship Nigerians are facing.
According to the minister, the just concluded #EndSARS protest, which gripped the whole country, has caused a lot of suffering to the people.
Recall that thousands of Nigerians held the #EndSARS campaign in October, taking to the streets to protest police brutality.
The protests resulted in the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit of the police.
Speaking at the commissioning of a central mosque built by Ta’Awunu Islamic group in Iwo, Osun State, on Saturday, Aregbesola said, “The President is aware of the hardship facing the citizens of the country. This was caused by the pandemic and the #EndSARS protests which erupted in many states of the federation. The president is doing all his best, and I can assure you that very soon, all will be well and we will be happy again.
“My reasons for coming to the state is in two folds; #EndSARS and to remind us that Coronavirus is still very much with us. We can’t afford to return to when the virus was at its peak in the country. That is why we must observe social distancing and use our face masks always. Cases are still being recorded every day.
“During this festive period, we must be cautious. We should obey the holy prophet’s teachings that say, ‘When there is an epidemic somewhere, we should not live there, and those outside should not join until the epidemic is over.’ We must take responsibilities for our lives.”
Court Grants N1m Bail To EndSARS Protester, Eromosele. Health condition of the activist was taken into consideration by the court in arriving at that decision.
The Magistrate Court sitting in Yaba, Lagos, has granted bail to Eromosele Adene. He was granted a N1m bail and asked to provide two sureties in like sum.
The court also said the sureties must own their own companies.