By Akinwale Kasali
Youths, in their hundreds scattered all across the Lagos State, especially at the Lekki Tollgate, in a procession with blood stained flags and dummy coffins to mark the Second Year Remembrance of the #EndSARS protest.
In major parts of the State, Youths came out to pay tribute to the fallen heroes of the #EndSARS protest by embarking on a peaceful procession.
Unfortunately, at the Lekki Toll Gate, as the procession was ongoing, heavily armed Police officers shot tear gas to disperse the protestants who scampered to safety.
The Police had alleged that the Protesters were on the verge of disrupting law and order, prompting it to take measures in addressing the situation by shooting tear gas at the protesters.
According to the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, “Peaceful persons were allowed to move around without interference from the police. Some of them that decided to be lawless and start mounting the toll complex, an action threatening the existing law and order in the area, were dispersed with teargas”.
Activist Rinu Oduala, who took to her Twitter handle to condemn the action of the Police wrote, “ Cowards @policeng! This is what you know how to do best?
Teargas us but you won’t stop us from remembering the people you killed!
“We will still come out every time to show that people didn’t die in vain!
At a Press Briefing on Wednesday, 19th October, 2022, organizers and victims of the #EndSARS protests, had called for the full implementation of the reports of the judicial panels of inquiry set up by the government to probe the protests just as it promised to hold a memorial rally in honour of those killed during the October 2020 protests at the Lekki tollgate and other areas across the country today.
Speaking during the second anniversary of the #EndSARS protests, Ayoyinka Oni, who spoke on the theme ‘ENDSARS justice now: Justice delayed is justice denied’, called for full compensation of victims of protest, saying there should not be any back door payments.
Oni who is the leader of the Takeitback group, demanded among others the release of all incarcerated over EndSARS compensation by the state for jailing them unjustly, adequate compensation for people wounded and families of people killed, full implementation of reports of judicial panels of inquiry, open trial of all security personnel involved in the massacre and also a public apology for massacre and repression by the government and the full implementation of the ENDSARS 5 for 5 demands.”
He said, “As you would recall, the #EndSARS movement was a spontaneous rebellion of Nigerian youths who have borne the scars of illegal detentions; missing loved ones and extra-judicial murders of family members and friends by police, and the military-like repression by a supposedly democratic government.
“The protests were peaceful and forged a sense of oneness in the hearts and minds of Nigerians from all walks of life and ethno-regional backgrounds. We were armed only with our conscience and patriotism. The weapons we had were ideas, slogans and placards. People, who did not know each other before the protests stood together, sat together, marched together, ate together, sang together, prayed together and shared the hopes of a better Nigeria in their hearts and through their actions.
“As you would recall, we were violently attacked at different times during the almost three weeks of our glorious resistance by armed security personnel of the state, and vagabonds who were revealed to have been backed by agencies of the state, as captured in several videos circulated on social media. The vehicles of #EndSARS protesters were burnt in Abuja; and known thugs associated with the ruling party were unleashed on protesters in several states, including Lagos, Osun and Anambra. In Abuja, on the same day that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, was banned, the police used water cannons against protesters, and would later fire volleys of teargas canisters.
“Despite all these, we were undeterred. The protesters met these brutish displays of force with love. We had hope – hope that love would overcome hate, hope that the truth would prevail, hope for a renewed nation where all rights would be duly respected as enshrined in the Constitution. This hope was dashed as the movement was drowned in blood on 20.10.20 – a date forever marked by ignominy for the Nigerian state; a date forever etched in our minds as a marker in the struggle to remake Nigeria.
“We painfully recall the attack as our colleagues were shot at while peacefully singing the National Anthem and waving the Nigerian flag. The federal government dismissed their deaths as mere figments of our imagination, despite the presence of physical eyewitnesses as well as virtual eyewitnesses who witnessed the events unfold in real-time on Instagram Live.
“The Lekki Toll Gate Massacre symbolizes the tragedy of state violence against innocent young Nigerians, fighting for their country with flags and the national anthem as their only tools. It is the symbol of the direct assault on the aspirations of young Nigerians for a better country”.
