Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on Tuesday called for the sack, arrest and prosecution of Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, for deceiving Nigerians over the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre of October 20th, 2020.
In a statement made available to the press on Tuesday, HURIWA accused the Minister of covering the illegality and human rights violations of the unharmed Nigerian youths by the Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police during the # EndSARS protest of October 2020. The call for the dismissal of Lai Muhammed followed reports of the Lagos State # ENDSARS panel set up to investigate the incident.
The group said in the statement that history and generations yet unborn will not forgive President Muhammadu Buhari if he fails to punish the minister and that he would be remembered as a dictator who not only supported but also approved the massacre of young, harmless Nigerian protesters.
HURIWA compared Lai Muhammed’s deceptive action to the killing of six million Jews by Adolf Hitler.
The group urges Buhari to punish his Minister of Information for committing a grave and heartless offence that is not different from the denial of the Holocaust of the six million Jews by Adolf Hitler, which it says is punishable by about fifty years of imprisonment. They
commended the members of the panel for a job well done, but charged Buhari with never sweeping the lawlessness of the security agencies under the carpet.
The Lagos State Panel of Enquiry on the # EndSARS incident, in a report submitted to the state government on Monday, accused the Nigerian Army of a massacre at the Lekki Toll Gate, which Lai Muhammed had denied several times in the media.
The Panel in its report established that the testimonies of victims and eyewitnesses, including the reports given by independent experts employed to examine the footage taken during the incident, confirmed that the army shot live bullets at the protesters, resulting in deaths and severe gunshot injuries.
According to the report, the panel established that nine protesters were confirmed dead, while four others were presumed dead.
The report listed 48 names as casualties of the Lekki Toll Gate massacre. Of the 48 casualties, 24 were reported to have sustained bullet wounds, while 15 were reported to have been assaulted by security men who invaded the scene of the protest.
Also, pathologist John Obafunwa of Lagos State Teaching Hospital presented forensic reports for 96 corpses.
Meanwhile, Lai Muhammed continued to deny the killings.
