Election in 2023 will be affected by the Lekki Tollgate Massacre - Nigerians promise

 

Nigerians have questioned the government's sincerity toward its citizens as the EndSARS nationwide protest that resulted

in the deaths of numerous Nigerian youths approaches its second anniversary. They have also vowed that the gruesome incident will influence the results of the 2023 general elections.

In fact, the majority of Nigerians believe that those in positions of power do not care (in any manner) about the lives of common residents. They think that politicians simply care about retaining their positions of power and that they utilize the electorate to advance their own interests.

During this time in 2020, Nigerians—mostly young people—took to the streets to expose the brutality, intimidation, and highhandedness of the police toward defenseless individuals. They especially urged a ban on the Nigerian Police's Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS.

Thugs hijacked the protest, which had begun peacefully and calmly across the nation, and started destroying government buildings and hurting the people.

When soldiers from the Nigerian Army arrived in trucks and allegedly opened fire on the nonviolent protestors, the situation reached its peak. According to a judicial panel of inquiry appointed by the State government, "the soldiers invaded the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020 shot, injured, and killed unarmed helpless and defenseless protesters, without provocation or justification, while they were waving the Nigerian Flag and singing the National Anthem," committing a massacre. The State government-created judicial commission of investigation came to that conclusion.

Additionally, the panel determined that Nigerian Police Force personnel stationed at the toll gate the night of the incident "shot at, beat and battered unarmed protestors, which led to injuries and deaths," assisting the army in carrying out a massacre of unarmed civilians.

The Army, the Nigerian government, and the Lagos State administration had repeatedly denied the panel's findings that the soldiers of the 65 Battalion of the 81 Garrison Division, Bonny Camp, under the command of lieutenant colonel Sanusi Ovada Bello, were responsible for a massacre.

Both a report on the Lekki incident investigation and a report on examples of police abuse were presented by the panel. 

The panel's report was rejected by the Federal Government due to inconsistencies, which sparked controversy about this.

Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC Oluomo, had emphasized that no lives were lost during the Lekki tollgate gate incident while simultaneously bringing up unpleasant memories of the episode from not too long ago.

On Sunday, during the 5-million-person march in Lagos to promote Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu's candidacy, Oluomo, the chairman of Lagos Parks and Garages Management, made this assertion in a speech to APC supporters.

The transport manager said that it was impossible for protestors to have been killed and that neither the bodies of the victims would have been discovered nor would the families of the deceased have come forward to inquire for their loved ones.

Nigerians have expressed concerns about the government's lack of sincerity to the public on the streets of Abuja as celebrities and organizers of the 2020 EndSARS protest wrapped up plans to host a memorial in the Lekki district of Lagos State on Thursday.