Lagos Government Demolishes Community Whose Resident Witnessed Lekki Shooting

Lagos State Government have demolished a community whose residents witnessed the October 20 shooting of peaceful #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the Lekki Toll Gate.

According to Premium Times, officials of the Lagos State Environmental Tasks Force accompanied by policemen and persons suspected to be thugs have burnt down the community on Tuesday.

Speaking with newsmen, residents of the community said policemen and some officials of the environmental task force, arrived at the community on Tuesday and told them to vacate their residences within 24 hours.

The residents said they were still trying to gather their belongings on Tuesday morning when a contingent of taskforce officials, mobile policemen and “persons that looked like thugs” arrived and immediately started pulling down structures in the community.

They said while a bulldozer was pulling downs the mainly makeshift houses, the thugs were setting fire to the fallen structures and the policemen chased residents who were still trying to salvage their belongings far into the banks of the lagoon, injuring some of them.

“People were scared and thought they were going to be arrested and ran towards the lagoon where they sustain deep cuts in their legs from broken bottles that were discarded there,” one resident said.

Another resident said he and other residents were stopped and searched by the policemen who claimed they were looking for weapons hidden in the shanties.

He also said the policemen mocked residents of the shanty for participating in the protest and “for speaking to the media” after the indiscriminate shooting of peaceful protesters at the tollgate.

“They were laughing at us as we struggled to gather our properties. The policemen said: ‘Sheybi na una be ENDSARS protesters abi?’”

When contacted, the spokesperson of the Lagos State Environmental Taskforce, Taofeek Adebayo, asked for 30 minutes to find out why the community was demolished and burnt.

When he was reached later, he directed reporters to the Lagos State Police Command for comment.

But the spokesperson of the Police Command, Muyiwa Adejobi, said he was not aware of the demolition but promised to find out. He is yet to revert on this.

KanyiDaily had reported how Nigerian Soldiers opened fire on peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate, killing nine people and injuring so many others on Tuesday night, October 21, 2020.