Tag: Lekki tollgate

  • #ENDSARsMemorial: Police Fire Tear Gas To Disperse Youths At Lekki Tollgate

    #ENDSARsMemorial: Police Fire Tear Gas To Disperse Youths At Lekki Tollgate

    The police on Wednesday fired a tear gas canister at the Lekki tollgate where celebrities and youths held a memorial car procession in Lagos State.

    Scores of youths, including celebrities were participating in the parade amid the presence of armed security operatives before they were dispersed.

    The procession, held in hounor of victims of police brutality, was organised to commemorate the one year anniversary of the #EndSARS protests that led to the disbandment of the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police.

    As earlier as 8am, many of the young Nigerians filled up several cars and buses, blaring horns as they drove through the toll plaza.

    As the event continued, the number of youths at the venue grew while others came down from their cars, chanting solidarity songs.

    A drama also played out as an altercation ensued between members of the press and the security operatives after the journalists were harassed by the police at the venue.

    Two persons were arrested by the police. One of them was picked up by armed security operatives while he was having a chat with reporters.

    Miscreants, Not Protesters

    In his reaction, the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Hakeem Odumosu, who was also at the venue, said the police did not disperse the youths taking part in the procession.

    Rather, he stated that the security operatives fired tear gas to disperse those he described as miscreants at the venue.

    But the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Hakeem Odumosu, who was also at the venue, said the police did not disperse the youths taking part in the procession.

    Rather, he stated that the security operatives fired tear gas to disperse those he described as miscreants at the venue.

    “We did not fire canister to disperse protesters,” he revealed at the venue of the parade. “If you have your recording, you will know the type of the canister that we fired and if you go back, you will see the period that they (the organisers) posted – it was between 8am and 10am.

    “Secondly, we agreed that they need to move in vehicles, not on foot. They can blare their horns, they can wave their flags, they can display their posters, no problem.

    “But they are not to be on foot, and we agreed that they won’t come down from their vehicle to address anybody; that is where people will start coming in and converging.”

    The police commissioner insisted that the police only used minimum force to disperse miscreants, and not the youths participating in the memorial procession.

    He explained that he had a discussion with the organisers on the venue and time for the parade, saying that became necessary for the police to provide adequate security for them.

    Odumosu said after 10am, he called the organisers who he said informed him that the procession had ended, and participants had returned to their various destinations.

    He stressed that those arrested were miscreants and some of them were armed with weapons to cause mayhem at the venue.

    “We arrested someone with a machete, is that a protester? That is evidence to us that miscreants have infiltrated them,” said the police commissioner.

    “Those people that gather now are on foot, they are the miscreants that infiltrated them; not those that came with their vehicles. We did not drag anybody out of the car. We did not arrest anybody that is known to be a protester.”

  • #EndSARSMemorial: Protesters begin car procession at Lekki Tollgate

    A car procession is currently going on at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos in memory of the #EndSARS protests of last year.

    This is despite a ban on protests in Lagos and the heavy presence of armed police personnel at the tollgate.

    The activists who turned up at the tollgate with their cars were seen waving Nigerian flags from inside the vehicles and honking the horns while singing solidarity songs.

    Speaking to newsmen, they stated that they will continue going to and fro the tollgate as their own way of protesting.

    Recall we had earlier reported that operatives of the Lagos State Police Command arrested two protesters at the Lekki tollgate where the #EndSARS Memorial Protest is scheduled to hold in the state today.

    One of those arrested claimed to be a journalist while the other was seen carrying a placard.

    The police had reportedly warned that anyone seen at the tollgate without an ID card will be arrested.

    More to follow…

  • Arrest Bala Mohammed, Abbas, Not Protesters – HURIWA

    Arrest Bala Mohammed, Abbas, Not Protesters – HURIWA

    The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemn the clampdown and arrests of peaceful protesters at the controversial Lekki Toll Gates in Lagos State.

    The National Coordinator of the rights group, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said on Saturday in Abuja that the conspiratorial silence of the Nigerian Police and the Department of States Services to the open backing of armed herdsmen by Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed and the call for arms by the Kano State chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abdullahi Abbas, is condemnable, especially that the Federal government is showing double standards and gross violations of human rights of protesting citizens who are law abiding and peaceful threatens constitutional democracy.

    HURIWA which compares the current administration’s bloody attacks of peaceful protesters in Lekki Toll Gates Lagos and in almost the entire peaceful marches by citizens since the last six years to the military junta in Myanmar, said that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is increasingly becoming dictatorial and totalitarian which goes against the Nigerian Constitution upon which basis they were elected by Nigerians who are the owners of the sovereignty of Nigeria.

    According to him, the public demonstrations are democratic ways of passing on information of existing grievances to the elected leaders of the nation state just as the group said any attempt to suppress democratic freedoms of expression and peaceful Assembly is a coup against democracy and the Constitution.

    “The crackdown on peaceful protesters in Lekki Toll Gates Lagos this weekend is a grave affront to the core principles and values of constitutionalism and democracy,” Onwubiko said.

    Says arrest may trigger mass protest nationwide

    He warned that action of the Lagos State Police command could motivate activists from across the country to pour out on the streets to carry out solidarity marches.

    He said that the brutal arrests of these activists by the police under the command and control of Mohammed Adamu, is offensive to all known international human rights conventions, treaties endorsed by the Nigerian State and domesticated by the municipal law and the Grund Norm of Nigeria.

    The Rights group said the Nigerian Police not being a law making body under section 4 of the Constitution has no authority or legal powers to stop the exercise of these protected and guaranteed fundamental freedoms of the citizens which in any event can not even be legislated against except and unless otherwise decided by the competent Court of law in line with section 6 or during periods of national emergency declared so by the legislative process.

    He said that there was the constant harassment of the economist and a former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Dr. Mailafiya Obadiah by the DSS and Police over his comments on insecurity in the nation while the Bauchi State governor Bala Mohammed supported the terror actions of armed herdsmen but the security forces have not acted.

    He also said same was the case of the Kano APC state Chairman who called on the supporters to decisively deal with any person or group of persons that will attempt to embark on any form of electoral rigging on election day come 2023.

  • #Lekkitollgate: Police arrest Mr Macaroni Along Side other protesters at Lekki tollgate

    #Lekkitollgate: Police arrest Mr Macaroni Along Side other protesters at Lekki tollgate

    Police have arrested popular comedian Debo Adebayo, also known as Mr Macaroni, at the Lekki toll gate.

    The comedian joined other protesters at the tollgate to express his dissatisfaction with the decision of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry allowing the Lekki Concession Company to reopen the Lekki tollgate on Saturday.

    Adebayo was arrested after the police told him “we don’t want you here”.

    In a Live Instagram before his phone and those of other arrested protesters were seized, the comedian lamented that “Lekki is under military rule.”

    He said, “How did you think the reopening of tollgate is the next line of action? If you didn’t do that today, we won’t have a right to be here.

    “It is a disrespect to say that you want to reopen at this tollgate. Are you spitting on the graves of the dead?

    “Na military regime we dey? We also have a right to be heard. We have a right to protest peacefully.”

    Another protester, Joseph Seye, said, “I am an artist. I am not a criminal. I came here to protest. It is my right. It is not a crime to protest. Why are the government treating youths this way?”

  • #DefendLagos: Youths Plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate

    #DefendLagos: Youths Plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate

    Youths have announced plans to organise a counter-protest at the Lekki tollgate on Saturday, February 13.

    This comes hours after some Nigerians who are against the reopening of the Lekki tollgate on Monday using the hashtag, #OccupyLekkiTollgate announced plans to stage a fresh protest at the tollgate on Saturday, February 13. 

    However, some Nigerians on Twitter are against the protest and have indicated plans to stage a counter-protest using the hashtag #DefendLagos.

    One of the promoters of the #DefendLagos protest, Olusoga Owoeye @olusogaowoeye wrote “Show your love for our Lagos. Get your friends and your neighbors to be there. Join the DefendLagos Rally at the Lekki toll plaza on the 13th of February. We will not cede our city to criminals and insurrectionists. Lagos is our pride.”

    Another promoter, @salamhunters, wrote “We will defend and protect our Lagos from looters and arsonists.”

    See more tweets below…

    #DefendLagos trends as youths plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate
    #DefendLagos trends as youths plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate
    #DefendLagos trends as youths plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate
    #DefendLagos trends as youths plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate
    #DefendLagos trends as youths plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate
    #DefendLagos trends as youths plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate
    #DefendLagos trends as youths plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate
    #DefendLagos trends as youths plan counter-protest at Lekki tollgate
  • Nigerians Threaten Fresh Protests Over Reopening Of Lekki Tollgate

    Nigerians Threaten Fresh Protests Over Reopening Of Lekki Tollgate

    Following the move to reopen the Lekki Tollgate, many Nigerians mostly youths, have taken to social media threatening to stage another protest.

    Youth representatives at the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Saturday had opposed the reopening of the Lekki toll gate arguing that reopening the toll-gate at this time would be hasty and premature.

    Image

    The argument over the weekend however did not sway the votes as the panel voted in favour of a return of the tollgate to Lekki Concession Company (LCC).

    Reacting to this decision, many Nigerians took to Twitter calling out the panel for approving the release of the toll gate when investigations into the Lekki shootings are still ongoing.

    According to those threatening to stage another protest come Saturday, February 13, no thought of reopening should be heard at the moment, not when no one has been held accountable for the killing of unarmed protesters, who marched against police brutality on the night of October 20.

    The emerging push for another long is currently being anchored on the hashtag #OccupyLekkiTollGate which has been trending on Twitter.

  • Lagos judicial panel begins review of CCTV footage from Lekki tollgate

    Lagos judicial panel begins review of CCTV footage from Lekki tollgate

    The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Enquiry has begun the review of CCTV footage from the Lekki tollgate on Tuesday, October 20.

    Military men stormed the tollgate where End SARS protesters had gathered and alllegedly fired gunshots at protesters gathered there. There have been conflicting reports on the number of casualties.


    Recall that the Lekki Concession Company LCC submitted footage from the tollgate to the panel on Wednesday, November 4. The MD of the company however told the panel that the CCTV stopped recording at about 8pm on that same day.
    The panel is currently viewing the CCTV footage from the early hours of October 20 and will watch till in the evening when the recording stopped.

  • Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry visit Lekki tollgate, discover bullet shells on the floor

    Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry visit Lekki tollgate, discover bullet shells on the floor

    Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry visit Lekki tollgate, discover bullet shells on the floor (photos/video)

    The Lagos State judicial panel of inquiry into brutality and high handedness by the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), on Friday October 30, visited the Lekki Toll Gate where the shooting of End SARS protesters took place on Tuesday, October 20.

    Led by the Chairman, Retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, the panel questioned the Lekki Tollgate officials about the condition of their cameras and other equipment.

    The Managing Director of Lekki Concession Company (LCC), Mr Yomi Omomuwansa while taking the panel round the facilities said most of their equipment was damaged as they were set ablaze by hoodlums following the shooting of EndSARS protesters at the toll gate.

    The panel during the visit discovered bullet shells on the floor which were collected as exhibits.

    Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry visit Lekki tollgate, discover bullet shells on the floor (photos/video)
    Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry visit Lekki tollgate, discover bullet shells on the floor (photos/video)
    Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry visit Lekki tollgate, discover bullet shells on the floor (photos/video)
    Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry visit Lekki tollgate, discover bullet shells on the floor (photos/video)