The All Progressives Congress (APC) has faulted the investi­gative report by Cable News Network (CNN) on the Octo­ber 20 Lekki shootings, saying the re­port left more questions than answers and a discomforting suspicion of its intention.

The Nigerian Army had confirmed that soldiers were deployed at the ven­ue where peaceful #EndSARS protest­ers had gathered on October 21 but it insisted that nobody was killed.

While the army has continued to insist that no live ammunition was fired at the protest ground, stressing that only blank bullets were used to disperse the demonstrators, CNN in its report said a forensic probe of the bullet casings recovered from the scene of the incident revealed that live bullets were fired at the protesters.

Speaking with Saturday INDE­PENDENT yesterday, Seye Oladejo, the Publicity Secretary, APC Lagos State chapter, said the report by CNN amounts to throwing spanner in the works of the judicial panel already constituted by the Lagos State gov­ernment on the order of President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the issue.

While describing the CNN re­port as a ‘piece of fiction’ fueled by rumours, Oladejo said it contrasts sharply with the balanced reportage by the British Broadcasting Corpora­tion (BBC) which had correspondents at the scene of the incident.

According to the APC, the panel headed by Justice Doris Okwuobi will not rely on media reports in arriving at a conclusion on what actually trans­pired at Lekki Toll Gate.

“I guess a time like this represents a period when silence is eloquently golden. The judicial panel of enquiry is still at work trying to dig out the facts and put the pieces together. I’m just too sure the panel won’t rely on media reports to form an opinion on what ac­tually transpired.

“It’s interesting to note the two contrasting reports of two reputable international media brands, the BBC and CNN, on the same incident.

“While the BBC had correspon­dents on ground for professional and ethical coverage, the CNN put its con­troversial reports together a month after the incident relying on eye wit­nesses, rumors and the deployment of technology from the comfort of their London studio to piece their fiction together.

“While the technology could cap­ture the military deployment and the purported shooting, it couldn’t show us the alleged carting away of the victims by military. It also remains a mystery that we didn’t see a blood soaked Lekki toll gate after the inci­dent. The series of resurrections of hitherto announced dead victims was conveniently left out just like the fluc­tuating number of fatalities.

“The report left more questions than answers and a discomforting suspicion of its intention. This speaks volume about the reputation of the medium. Anyway, it will go down in history as reporting a bloodless mas­sacre.

“However, it’s imperative that the fact finding panel is not distracted from its onerous assignment. It’s ad­visable that whoever has a submission should approach the panel rather than give in to needless sensation.

“The healing process which has commenced in earnest requires the support of all and sundry.

“The inauguration of the inde­pendent committee to spearhead the rebuilding of the monumental loss­es and the helping hand extended to the victims of looting and wanton destruction are moves in the right direction.”

Also, yesterday, Dedicated Law­yers Forum, a group of legal pro­fessionals, in a statement said CNN owes the Nigerian government an apology by relying only on social me­dia report to form its opinions and for describing the #EndSARS protest as a massacre.

Damola Akinlaja, the convener of the group said while CNN is entitled to its opinion, it is disheartening for Ni­gerians to be “celebrating the report as if it is the final authority on the matter.

“We support the position of the Federal government on this matter that CNN should be sanctioned for spreading fake news on its platform all in the name of investigative jour­nalism. Their report on Lekki is a direct opposite of what investigative journalism represents.

“CNN has apologised for making mistakes in the past and we are sure same will happen on this issue, despite their claim that they stand by their re­port.

“Everyone is talking about protest­ers killed which is yet to be verified. Why is nobody talking about police­men that were innocently killed too? Don’t they have families? Lest we for­get, the governor of Lagos was forced to declare the curfew after hoodlums went berserk burning police stations, killing police officers and attacking innocent civilians. That is what any responsible government will do.”

Also speaking with Saturday IN­DEPENDENT, Rotimi Fashakin, a chieftain of the APC said the Lekki incident wouldn’t have happened had the protesters not overreached themselves despite all that was done by the Federal government and Gov­ernor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos in meeting their demands.

Fashakin, a former National Pub­licity Secretary of the defunct Con­gress for Progressives Change (CPC) also said it was wrong for the protest­ers to demand that the President who was overwhelmingly elected by Nige­rians should resign.

“When the government waved the olive branch and accepted the de­mands of the protesters by disband­ing SARS, accepting the five-for-five demands, the protesters still said that they are not satisfied. They said they wanted the President to address them.

“The president still went ahead to address them, still, they were not sat­isfied. Then they move to the demand that the President must resign.”

In his submission on the CNN report, Oni-Olusola Gbenga, a veter­an journalist wrote “On October 23, CNN tweeted that 38 protesters were killed. On November 18, they said only one died of the 38 killed. Are they saying the 37 had resurrected?”

He also wondered how a detach­ment of the Nigerian military can shoot into a crowd of protesters, kill­ing just one person unlike Stephen Paddock who shot into a crowd at Las Vegas, killing 64 people.

“S. Paddock, 64 shot into a crowd in Las Vegas in Oct, 2017 killing 60 persons. A detachment of Nigerian soldiers shot at a crowd of protesters killing only one, according to CNN. And some of my compatriots insist the CNN report is credible. Who did this to us?

Also speaking with our correspon­dent, Alhaji Tunde Balogun, the APC chairman in Lagos said Governor Sanwo-Olu deserves commendation on his handling of the recent #End­SARS protest in Lagos, saying he couldn’t have done better than the governor if he was in his capacity as governor of Lagos State.

When asked to react to the shoot­ings at Lekki Toll gate on the night of October 20, Balogun said it was sur­prising how the governor who has no control over the military could order soldiers to the venue. He however said he will wait for the outcome of the judicial panel set up to look into the matter.

When contacted, Gani Taofik, the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) disagreed with Balogun’s position. He said that recent events have shown that the governor seemed to have been over­whelmed by the current challenges facing the state and should resign honourably.

He said “Like we stated earlier, it is more expedient for the governor to welcome the counsel to step aside now that the Nigerian Army has revealed him as the person who invited the soldiers to go and quell the Lekki protests.”
https://www.independent.ng/endsars-apc-lawyers-fault-cnn-report-on-lekki-shooting/

Has APC addmited to any of their numerous faults since they came to power so it isn't surprising that they rejected the CNN submission

stupppeeedddd government ....

kaiiii... anybody looking for a cleaner or even security in Canada or UK should pm me....Naija dn tire me

devilmaycry:
stupppeeedddd government ....

kaiiii... anybody looking for a cleaner or even security in Canada or UK should pm me....Naija dn tire me

Don't mind all those satanic devil incarnate called our leaders

Zombies wanna see bodies of those killed at tollgate.

Where are the bodies of the 6 soldiers and 4 police officers allegedly killed by IPOB in Obigbo that made Nwike declare war on the people of Obigbo?

Where are their bodies?

Where are their pictures?

And let their families come forward.

Dong2:

Don't mind all those satanic devil incarnate called our leaders

swears ...we need liberation

devilmaycry:


swears ...we need liberation

E don tey... Like since 1914!

This attacks on media outfit shows how well these satanic government will attack any individual that will come forward as an eyewitness to the killings at Lekki Tollgate.

You mean those sellout lawyer from APC.

Actually, I don't believe the notion that soldiers will shoot into a crowd and two persons will die.