The Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo has said the Nigerian Army was unhappy that the Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, denied inviting the military on October 20, 2020, when soldiers shot at #EndSARS protesters in Lekki area of the state.
Taiwo stated this on Saturday in his testimony before the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry probing the Lekki incident.
He, however, said inviting the military was the best decision Sanwo-Olu could have made as the #EndSARS protest plunged the state into anarchy. The General added that the Army was also unhappy that Sanwo-Olu said two persons died from the military engagement at the Lekki toll gate.
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.”
Sanwo-Olu had denied inviting the military to disperse protesters at the Lekki toll gate on October 20, adding that forces beyond his control were responsible for the Lekki incident.
But the Army Headquarters in a statement said that the Lagos State Government invited the soldiers to the protest ground and that the soldiers acted within the rules of engagement.
The governor has been under fire since the incident at the Lekki toll gate which has been condemned by both local and international rights organisations
