As parts of efforts to know the truth, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook (WhatsApp, Twitter) must come to the aid of Nigerians and be involved in this investigation on the Buhari government in the interest of humanity!
The Lekki Toll Gate incidence has raised a lot of controversy. The certainty of what really happened has become caught in multiple narratives. While many stick to it that a massacre occurred, the government insists there was only a shooting of blank bullets and where there were few civilian casualties.
On the night of the incident, the news was first that 49 Nigerians or more had been shot dead by the Nigerian Army at Lekki Toll Gate while trying to enforce a curfew that was first fixed for 4pm, then 7pm and being moved towards 9pm when the soldiers moved in and fired.
Nigerians were shot and even if only one person (there were more but the death toll is another confusion) the government should face sanction.
The CCTV footage is what can resolve this controversy but it is in custody of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Thus, there is a need to ask someone else who may have the data of what happened.
The ENDSARS protest mobilised massively with the use of the internet. Many of those who were present at Lekki Toll Gate were internet enabled and many of them have a Facebook, WhatsApp or Twitter account! Anyone of age these days has an account on these platforms.
If there are exceptions, there are only a few who do not have such an account on an android phone. These days, everyone owns an Android and when you do, you open an account with Gmail, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and other app preferences.
We can now turn to Mark Zuckerberg and ask him if any account has not been operational since the shooting/massacre occurred. He has this data and can reveal their names even if truly the Nigerian army has hidden bodies. Their phones would have stopped working hours after and would not have been opened since then. Thus, the accounts of the deceased can be easily discovered through Facebook's system.
Facebook also has a system that works with the GPS location of a phone device. Can Facebook not check the location of all those who posted #ENSARS and were at Lekki tollgate but no longer active? This would be known because they cannot open their social media accounts since they are dead!
This means it would prove more factual than other ones. Mark Zuckerberg can use the data in his hand for good and let Nigerians know if we have a case of International Human Rights and crimes against humanity to settle with President Buhari whose government claims they shot in the air to scare people away. The government admits only one death so far and few casualties.
Nigerians deserve to know which FB, Twitter or Whatsapp accounts are no longer working and were in use during or before the Lekki shooting that has caused media controversy!
Facebook was flagging the news as false! Has Facebook done any research?
Facebook has the best access to such information. They know the social media accounts and details of the 49 reportedly shot. They can check if those accounts have been operated since the Lekki shootings. If they are flagging the shootings as fake.
Is it not possible Facebook also has a video recording of how it went down? Perhaps through a phone of even the soldiers brought there. The shooting in this modern world can be unravelled by the use of technology.
Google Maps as an example can show you if there is a go-slow on the express by checking how many phones are close to each other inside the cars on a section of the road.
This technology is powerful enough to tell us what happened fully at Lekki.
As parts of efforts to know the truth, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook (WhatsApp, Twitter) must come to the aid of Nigerians and be involved in this investigation on the Buhari government in the interest of humanity!
Koye-Ladele Mofehintoluwa is a Tech enthusiast and recent Law Graduate from Obafemi Awolowo University. [email protected]. Tweets @Koye_tolu