Many of the attendees, who pointed their thumb downwards as the official spoke and asked God for blessings on Lagos and its people, soon started booing and making different sounds to show their disapproval with his presence and speech.
A representative of Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was on Friday night booed by participants at this year’s ‘Experience’ concert organised by the House on the Rock Church.
Many of the attendees, who pointed their thumb downwards as the official spoke and asked God for blessings on Lagos and its people, soon started booing and making different sounds to show their disapproval with his presence and speech.
In a video of the incident seen by SaharaReporters, the crowd increased the tempo of the booing and noise as the Lagos official tried his best to pass across the governor’s message calling for unity and peace among the people of Lagos.
It took the intervention of Senior Pastor of House on the Rock Church and Convener of the yearly worship concert, Paul Adefarasin, to stop the angry crowd from going on with their display of anger and disapproval of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s representative.
Friday’s event came days after the Lagos State governor denied the killing of peaceful protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate by military personnel and policemen on October 20, 2020.
The governor, through the release of a White Paper, debunked the findings and recommendations made by a Judicial Panel of Inquiry it had set up earlier to look into the causes of the EndSARS protest and the shooting of demonstrators on that fateful night.
The panel in its report stated that at least nine persons were killed by soldiers at Lekki Toll Gate on that date while several others were left with life-threatening wounds as a result of being hit by bullets.
The panel report urged the Lagos Government and other relevant authorities to punish all those involved in the killing of innocent protesters.
But in a swift response to the indictment by the panel’s report, Governor Sanwo-Olu created another four-member committee to come up with a White Paper on the findings of the JPI.
In the White Paper, the Lagos State Government described the claim of the panel that nine persons were shot dead as “assumptions and speculations”.
The Federal Government has since backed Sanwo-Olu’s administration into claiming that there was no massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020.
Several rights groups from around the world including the United States, United Nations, European Union have all called on the Lagos and federal governments to implement the recommendations of the JPI report headed by Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
The EndSARS protest was one of the most historic events of 2020.
Young people from across Nigeria took to the streets in large numbers to demand an end to police brutality and improved performance from elected officials in government.
The demonstration grew so large that prominent people around the world including music stars Beyonce, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj all raised their voices in support of the protesters.
One year after that historic march by young Nigerians, nothing has changed as police harassment, brutality and bad governance have all been on the rise in the country.