#EndSARS Protest: Lai Mohammed Insists No Killing At Lekki Toll Gate
The former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has reiterated that no one died at the Lekki Toll Gate during the October 2020 #EndSARS protests under the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mohammed spoke on Tuesday in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he discussed his new book, Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined an Administration.
He acknowledged that lives were lost during the nationwide protests, but maintained that the Lekki Toll Gate was free of fatalities despite the deployment of soldiers.
“Lives were lost during #EndSARS, including those of law enforcement personnel, but no one died at the Lekki Toll Gate,” he said.
The former minister claimed he was in close communication with military leaders before and during the incident and insisted that the troops deployed at the toll gate used blank ammunition.
He also dismissed claims by Amnesty International and the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, which reported that protesters were killed at the site, calling the findings inconsistent.
Mohammed questioned why no family had come forward in the five years since the incident to report a missing relative from the toll gate. “If anyone had been killed there, wouldn’t the family speak up?” he asked.
He defended the deployment of soldiers, saying it was necessary after the protests were overtaken by hoodlums, and framed the government’s action as an effort to maintain law and order.
Revisiting the incident years later, Mohammed said his position remains unchanged and described his book as an attempt to provide an insider account and correct what he considers misinformation about the Buhari administration.
The Lekki Toll Gate episode remains one of the most debated moments of the #EndSARS protests, which drew international attention. In October 2020, thousands of young Nigerians took to the streets to protest police brutality, and on 20 October, the Nigerian army allegedly opened fire on protesters at the toll gate.
Although footage and live streams captured the incident, the military has denied any shooting took place, labelling reports as false, while the government described it as “a massacre without blood or bodies.”
Sodiq Yusuf is a trained media practitioner and journalist with considerable years of experience in print, broadcast, and digital journalism. His interests cover a wide range of causes in politics, governance, sports, community development, and good governance.
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