The Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, has said the Nigerian Army was unhappy that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, denied inviting the military on October 20, 2020, following soldiers shooting at the Lekki tollgate, the #EndSARS protesters ground.
The general disclosed this on Saturday during his testimony before the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the Lekki shooting incident.
Ahmed, however, said inviting the military was the best decision the Lagos governor could have made as the #EndSARS protest plunged the state into anarchy but added that the Army was also unhappy that Sanwo-Olu said two persons died from the military engagement at the Lekki tollgate.
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He said, “I spoke with the governor and said the Army was unhappy that he said he did not ask for Army’s intervention but I am sure that after you watched everything (video footages), you saw he had more than enough grounds to ask for Army’s intervention; perhaps it was the way everything went.”
Governor Sanwo-Olu had in the wake of the Lekki tollgate shooting, denied inviting the military to disperse protesters adding that forces beyond his control were responsible for the incident.
But the Army Headquarters in a swift reaction to the governor’s claim subsequently said in a statement that the Lagos State government invited the soldiers to the protest ground and that the soldiers acted within the rules of engagement.
Governor Sanwo-Olu has been under heavy criticism since the shooting incident at the Lekki toll gate – an incident that has been widely condemned.
