Datti while speaking on Channels Television last Thursday said it was not certain that there was a massacre at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos State on October 20, 2020.
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on Monday, denied seeing an interview in which his running mate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, made a controversial statement about the Lekki shooting of October 2020.
Datti while speaking on Channels Television last Thursday said it was not certain that there was a massacre at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos State on October 20, 2020.
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 had said.
Omoyele Sowore, presidential candidate of the African Action Congress and Prof Farooq Kperogi, United States-based Nigerian social critic immediately countered Datti’s statement describing the Lekki massacre as “highly debatable”.
Kperogi defined massacre simply as the indiscriminate killing of many people, suggesting he might be educating Datti on what “massacre” really means in case he was confused about its definition.
Similarly, the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, dismissed Datti’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.”
Reacting in a statement, the vice-presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Barrister Haruna Garba Magashi also berated the LP vice-presidential candidate.
Magashi said the words from Datti “is not only embarrassing, it is an insult on humanity and an attack on the quest for total liberation of all Nigerians from the wicked hands of fascists and systematic tyranny”.
He asked why the LP vice-presidential candidate keeps portraying northerners as barbarians and people without civility.
However, Obi, while fielding questions on an Arise TV programme on Monday morning, said he was hearing Datti’s statement about the Lekki shooting for the first time.
Obi said so many things were done wrongly in the past that should be apologised for.
He said, “I did not even listen to that; maybe I will go back and listen to everything. I must tell you; I did not listen to it. I am just hearing it for the first time. For me, there are things we need to probably open up tomorrow and look into.”
“I have always said, in my reconciliation, we must go back to certain things and be able to apologise to people because things were done wrongly. There are so many things that we need to apologise for in this country,” he added.