No death recorded in Lekki shootings, says Sanwo-Olu

Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday said no death was recorded when soldiers open fire on protesters on Tuesday night at the Lekki toll gate.

The governor made this known in a live broadcast, saying two critically wounded victims had been operated on and were in stable condition while others with “mild to moderate” cases are still receiving treatments at various hospitals in the area.

Sanwo-Olu, who admitted that soldiers opened fire on #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in a bid to disperse them, said he is currently engaging the leadership of the Nigerian Army on the development.

He noted that as the governor of the state, the control of military forces was not under his purview.

Sanwo-Olu said: “For clarity, it is imperative to explain that no sitting governor controls the rules of engagement of the military. I have, nonetheless, ordered an investigation into the rules of engagement adopted by men of the Nigerian Army that were deployed to the Lekki toll gate last night.

“This is with a view to take this up with higher commands of the Nigerian Army and to seek the intervention of Mr President in his capacity too as the Commander-In-Chief to unravel the sequence of events that happened yesterday (Tuesday) night.

“Fellow Lagosians, whilst we pray for the swift recovery of the injured, we have not recorded any fatality as against the widespread circulation on social media.

“Myself and the leadership of the ministry of health have been going round. Indeed, we went round the hospitals last night. We went round mortuaries last night to see and to monitor for ourselves what has happened and to look and identified the injured protesters.

“We personally visited the hospitals that took in these patients. 10 patients at the General Hospital in Lagos, 11 patients were at the two locations of the Reddington Hospitals both in Lekki and Victoria Island,” he said, adding that others were at various hospitals in the Lekki area.

“I want to expressly say that over the night, two of them had to go through surgery and I am happy to say that they are all stable and they are recovering very well. Quite a number of others are just mild to moderate states.

“Indeed, three of them had been discharged this morning and I am told that additional three to four will be discharged anytime from now,” he added.