Lagos state Governor suspends aide over #EndSars attack claims, Nigerians react

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has suspended his Senior Special Assistant on Print Media, Mr. Wale Ajetunmobi. According to the governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Gboyega Akosile, the development comes after an account of Ajetunmobi’s “misrepresentation of facts on his personal ‘X’ account on a past incident.

On November 23, Ajetunmobi claimed on his X account that those who burnt down TVC during the October 2020 # EndSars protests were “hunted down and executed.” The post has now been seen as deleted.

“The full story of people who burnt down TVC in 2020 will be told one day, with gory clips and images. One thing to note: the majority of them have been hunted down and executed,” he wrote on his X handle.

He stated further, “One of them, a young boy trading in cooking gas around Ketu, was found with an AK-47 at the site. Even his neighbours were shocked. But the full gist is better saved for later.”

When asked to clarify his statement on what he meant by “hunted down and killed”, which must portrayed as “extra-judicial killing”, he replied, “Lol… you want to create a narrative in your head. What is extrajudicial killing here? Some of the people were chased by soldiers and an exchange of fire occurred.

“Then arsonists were overpowered and killed in the process. Others ran away. Is that an extra-judicial killing to you?”

The Lagos state government has on Tuesday swift action in suspending the aid over the issue.

In a special release from the office of the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Media and Publicity, the government distanced itself from any form of extra-judicial punishment and stated that “this is not who we are”.

“The Governor wishes to state categorically that his administration frowns at any form of extra-judicial punishment and will not be a part of any such action. That is not who we are. That is not our way,” the statement reads.

Reactions to Lagos State’s release

Reactions have continued to trail the governor’s suspension of his media aide with many people insisting the aide actually knew what he was talking about. This is particularly so given how resolute he was even in the face of dissenting voices.

“That isn’t misrepresentation. He admitted to being in the know of extrajudicial killings. In a sane system, his head and his principal’s should roll but given the antecedent of his principal – who is surprised? Sanwoolu denied for years the killings that happened at LTG.” – @UnkleAyo

“For an aide to have said what he said, it is either that he knows what he is saying (privy to what has happened behind the scenes as a close person or aide to a senior government official) or he is spreading falsehood. Either way, it should be invited in for questioning.” – @jidekuje

“What do you mean by misrepresentation of facts? Aren’t you the one trying to misrepresent facts here? He just stated what he knows but you are trying to turn it into misrepresentation.” – @SavvyRinu

#EndSARS and October 20 – a recap

End SARS, widely written with the hashtag #EndSARS, was a decentralized social movement and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria that mainly occurred in 2020. The movement’s slogan called for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police known for its long record of abuse against Nigerian citizens.

The protests originated from a Twitter campaign in 2017, using the hashtag #EndSARS to demand the unit’s disbandment by the Nigerian government.

Following violent escalations which included attacks by agitators against both protesters and police, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, declared a state-wide 24-hour curfew effective 4:00 PM WAT on 20 October. 

During this time, images of some persons alleged to be working with the Lagos State Government and the Lekki Concession Company removing cameras (later confirmed by the Lagos State Government to be laser cameras and not CCTV cameras as earlier publicized on social media) at the toll gate circulated on End SARS on Twitter (now X) and street lights at the toll gate vicinity were turned off. 

A few hours later, it was reported that armed men of the Nigerian Army arrived at the scene of the protest and opened fire on peaceful and unarmed protesters, thereby resulting in a disputed number of deaths. There were also reports that at least 50 other people were injured. However, the Lagos State government later reported that the shooting resulted in up to 25 injured, and only 2 dead.

The  Lagos State Government denied any involvement in the massacre and the Nigerian Army claimed they never shot at protesters or used live ammunition.

Also Read: #EndSARS: Nigerian court rules that blocking bank accounts without court order is unlawful