The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria HURIWA has called on President Buhari to immediately sack, arrest and prosecute the Minister of Information and Culture, following his insistence that nobody was killed in the October 20, 2020, Lekki tollgate shooting.
The writers made the call while reacting to the conclusive judicial report by the Lagos State Judicial Panel of investigations into the Lekki incident last year which indicted the Nigerian Army and Police.
Lai Mohammed had always insisted no one died in the shooting and even called on CNN and other international and local media houses to apologize to the Federal government for saying that some protesters were killed in the incident.
In a statement released today November 16, HURIWA said Lai Mohammed should be arrested for ”committing a grave and heartless offense”. The statement in part reads;
“As there has emerged undisputed evidence that indeed there was systematic annihilation of many civilian protesters in Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos State last October, we are asking the President Muhammadu Buhari as a father of all to order the arrest and prosecution of his minister of information, Lai Mohammed for committing a grave and heartless offence that is equivalent to the denial of the Holocaust of the 6 million Jews by Adolf Hitler which is punishable by nearly half a century of incarceration.
“HURIWA is also commending the brave members and Chairperson of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the #ENDSARS PROTESTS especially the circumstances surrounding the massive cases of extrajudicial killings by the Army and armed police when these armed forces opened fire with lethal weapons targeted at the unarmed protesters.
The Rights group asked the President not to sweep the lawlessness of the security agencies under the carpets just as the Rights group said if the President allows his information minister to get away with the impunity of denying the massacre that happened before the eyes of the world captured live on video cameras, then he will be remembered long after he has retired from public office as a dictator who oversaw the genocide of young protesters and the generations unborn will never forgive him for this.”
