For several months now, after the gory incident, I have been inundated with questions about government’s denials and insensitivity over the issue. My answer has always been that there is God. I usually buttress my response with the question, “How can God allow young energetic youths to be killed by supposedly unknown gunmen and allowed assailants to go free without justice?
If there is one decentralized social movement that contemporary political leaders elected into various political offices by Nigerians would like to erase from their memories or have the chance to undo, it is unarguably #EndSARS. The reason for the foregoing view cannot be farfetched as the movement which calls for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuses has become a turn in the flesh of many a political leader.
In fact, the vehement revulsion which the contemporary ruling establishments have for #EndSARS and its organizers can inherently be seen in the failure to bring to justice those suspected to be responsible for the brutal crackdown by security forces on peaceful #EndSARS protesters at Lekki Toll Gate and Alausa in Lagos in October 2020. Not only have the authorities failed to bring justice to the suspects, they have brazenly attempted to cover up the violence.
Again, in as much as it is on record that the government set up a panel of inquiry in Lagos State to investigate complaints against SARS and the gory incidents that took place at Lekki and Alausa, it is expedient to say in this context that government officials and the military have continued to deny that anybody was killed during the protests while restating their resolve to punish leaders of the EndSARS movement for organizing the inaugural memorial of the Lekki Toll Gate Killing.
For instance, while addressing a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says there is no proof that any protester was killed at the Lekki Toll Gate.
The minister at the conference said, “Today marks the first anniversary of the phantom massacre at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, which was the culmination of an otherwise peaceful protest that was later hijacked by hoodlums”.
“At earlier press conferences, I had called the reported massacre at the toll gate the first massacre in the world without blood or bodies.
“One year later, and despite ample opportunities for the families of those allegedly killed and those alleging a massacre to present evidence, there has been none: No bodies, no families, no convincing evidence, nothing. Where are the families of those who were reportedly killed at the toll gate? Did they show up at the Judicial Panel of Inquiry? If not, why?”
As any logical-minded person would agree with this writer, the minister’s argument fall on the face of the insistence of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, who, last year, said that there were only two recorded deaths at the scene of the Lekki Toll Gate shooting.
It would be recalled that the governor spoke on the issue ostensibly to pooh-pooh several reports at the time that stated that no fewer than 30 protesters died as a result of the shooting which generated public outcry after security operatives believed to be soldiers fired live bullets into the crowd of protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate at Admiralty Circle Way.
Against the foregoing backdrop, it is confusing for anyone to know who is speaking the truth between the minister and the governor as whatever any of them says in public domain carries weight by virtue of their political offices.
Be that as it may, there is God over the height of insensitivity that characterizes #EndSARS imbroglio. Despite the confusion which the aforementioned political leaders have thrown Nigerians into over the actual death toll of the Lekki toll gate, there is no denying the fact that there is God in everything. After all, Heidi Montag, was credited to have said that “God knows the truth in all of this, and at the end of the day, that is the only thing that matters. Jesus was persecuted, and I’m going to get persecuted, ya know?”
In a similar vein, unarguably asserting the existence of God, who is the only supernatural being, the creator and ruler of the universe and all things in it, as well all-powerful and all-knowing (omnipotent and omniscient), a former First Lady, Patience Jonathan, who was conducting some sort of survey, and asking if the abducted Chibok Girls in Borno State had written their examinations before they were abducted, burst into tears and cried, “Chai, chai, there is God o. There is God oooo. The bloods they are shedding, there is God oooo.”
Unfortunately, despite her cry, which is no doubt a clarion call, it is crystal clear that not few of the political elite are bereft of God’s existence in the affairs of men. They carry on in their activities as if there is no God. If they have the fear of God as some readers of this piece might have argued, why is the exact death toll at Lekki Toll Gate during the #EndSARS being politicized, and being watered down with lies, denials and intimidation?
If they have the fear of God, Why has there being no justice, one year after the peaceful EndSARS protests? Just yesterday, being the memorial event of the #EndSARS protests, there was heavy police crackdown on activists, musicians, Nollywood actors and actresses, and even Journalists who thronged the Lekki Toll Gate to observe or participate in the inaugural commemoration of the event. This is even as protesters who stormed the streets of Abuja were stopped by security agents from marching to the National Assembly to express their frustration at failure of the Federal Government to meet their demands that were made last year.
For several months now, after the gory incident, I have been inundated with questions about government’s denials and insensitivity over the issue. My answer has always been that there is God. I usually buttress my response with the question, “How can God allow young energetic youths to be killed by supposedly unknown gunmen and allowed assailants to go free without justice?
In fact, the Lekki Toll Gate killing is one too many that no amount of politicization can water down its enormity as God will not allow it. Think about that, no amount of government’s intimidation, denials, propaganda, can derail or disrupt the course of justice. No politician or political body can stifle the voice of the people as long as there is God. To couch this piece in the right context, it is expedient to concur with our former first lady that “There is God ooo”.
Isaac Asabor
