Sowore, Kperogi Tackle Labour Party Vice-Presidential Candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed For Saying Lekki Massacre Is ‘Highly Debatable’

DATTI
October 21, 2022
News

Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress and Prof Farooq Kperogi, United States-based Nigerian social critic have countered the argument of the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party for the 2023 election, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, describing the Lekki massacre as “highly debatable”.

Sowore, Kperogi Tackle Labour Party Vice-Presidential Candidate, Datti Baba-Ahmed For Saying Lekki Massacre Is ‘Highly Debatable’

 

Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress and Prof Farooq Kperogi, United States-based Nigerian social critic have countered the argument of the vice-presidential candidate of the Labour Party for the 2023 election, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, describing the Lekki massacre as “highly debatable”.

Kperogi defined massacre simply as the indiscriminate killing of many people, suggesting he might be educating Baba-Ahmed on what “massacre” really means in case he was confused about its definition.

Baba-Ahmed had said it was not certain that there was a massacre at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos State on October 20, 2020.

Baba-Ahmed disclosed this on Thursday on the Channels TV programme, Politics Today.

According to him, the use of “massacre” during the October 20, 2020 event is highly debatable.

“There was abuse of procedure, if some people interpret that as massacre. The use of 'massacre' in #EndSARS is highly debatable but I can say for sure there were abuses of procedure and civil rights violations,” he said.

He added that it was “heavy” to say that the Labour Party was a beneficiary of the #EndSARS protest.

Baba-Ahmed said, “It’s a very heavy statement to make, saying that our party, Labour Party is a beneficiary of EndSARS. While we are always on the side of the people, on side of good governance, we are against attrition; we are against repression and all those.

“You may be more correct to put it in another way, but we are not direct beneficiaries of EndSARS. The use of the word ‘massacre’ is highly debatable.  We never wanted EndSARS to happen. We never want any Nigerian whatsoever to be attacked. Accordingly, we are not happy for anybody to say we are beneficiaries of EndSARS.

“We benefit from a peaceful Nigeria. That is what we benefit from. We benefit from progress and development. We are about correcting all the mistakes of bad governance.”

SaharaReporters had reported that soldiers on October 20, 2020, opened fire on peaceful protesters, who had converged on the Lekki tollgate to protest against police brutality.

The incident triggered global outrage, with calls for justice echoing from different parts of the world.

However, Prof Kperogi later on Thursday tweeted, “A massacre is simply the indiscriminate killing of many ppl, and that was what happened at Lekki 2 yrs ago. But Datti says that's "debatable" and that all that happened that day were mere "abuse of procedure and civil rights violations." In other words many ppl weren't killed.Ha!”

Peter Obi’s running mate also said he really wanted “to know what happened during #EndSARS. There could have been #EndGovernance, #EndCorruption. SARS was an aspect”.

Responding to a tweet of the quote which was posted by Channels TV, Kperogi added, “Hehehe! This is probably the funniest, most flip-flopping, least decipherable interview you will watch.”

Similarly, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, dismissed Baba-Ahmed’s claim.

The activist posted a video showing the Divisional Police Officer of Maroko Police Station, Ganiyu Raji, shooting a protester.

He tweeted, “During #EndSARS the Divisional @PoliceNG Officer of Maroko Police station, Ganiyu Raji was accused of extra judicial killings, the #EndSARS panel in Lagos even recommended his prosecution. Today we obtained a video of the DPO (in white) shooting a protester on camera. Today, I met him with a group of Nigeria Police Force officers at Lekki Toll Gate still actively involved in attacking protesters. #EndSARSMemorial.”

 

In another post, Sowore said, “#Endsars It is not debatable, young Nigerians were massacred at #LekkiTollGate on October 20 2020 #EndsarsMemorial #aweCantContinueLikeThis.”

The state government later set up a Judicial Panel on restitution for victims of SARS-related abuses and other matters to sit on petitions from victims of police brutality.

One of the recommendations made by the panel, as shared by Sowore, called for the prosecution of the DPO of Maroko Police Station, Raji.

“The DPO of Maroko Police Station along with policemen deployed from Maroko Police Station on the 20th and 21st of October 2020 should be prosecuted for arbitrary and indiscriminate shooting and killing of protesters,” the panel said.

Meanwhile, it was gathered that before the shooting started at the Lekki Tollgate, some officials uninstalled the Closed Circuit Television cameras in the area.

Electricity at the protest area was also disconnected to prevent demonstrators from filming the attack.

Minutes later, heavily armed Nigerian Army personnel moved into the scene to complete the plan.

Though Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu blamed “forces beyond our control” for the attack, the army in a statement later revealed that the soldiers were invited to the scene of the protest by the governor.

Also, soldiers involved in the operation confirmed they were drafted in for the mission at the request of Sanwo-Olu.

Politics