Given the same circumstance, we’ll repeat what we did in Lekki, says army

The Nigerian army has vowed to repeat the same action it took at the Lekki tollgate if such a situation arises again.

Soldiers had forcefully dispersed #EndSARS protesters who converged on the tollgate for 13 days.

The incident had triggered an outrage, within and outside the country.

The army had maintained that blank bullets were used to disperse the protesters who were out on the streets during the time the Lagos state government imposed a curfew.

When he appeared before the panel set up to probe the incident, on Saturday, Ibrahim Taiwo, commander of military intelligence, 81 division of the Nigerian Army, said given the same circumstance, the army would act in a similar to that of October 20, 2020.

Taiwo had earlier explained that phase four of the military internal security operation, which was deployed in the Lekki tollgate on the night of October 20, 2020, involved the use of both live and blank ammunition.

“A portion of the force will carry live bullets, in case they are attacked. But the soldiers that formed the firing team, who fired, used blank bullets. And that is why you watched the video and saw exactly what happened,” he had said while being cross examined by Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Asked if the soldiers would repeat what they did in Lekki under a similar situation, he said: “Yes. Given the same information and circumstance.”