'He died in my arms.' Twelve months on, a mother's agonizing wait to find out why her son died at Lekki toll gate

Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) When Adesola heard about the shooting at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020, she immediately thought of her son who had earlier left home to join the hundreds of young people protesting against police brutality at the site.

In a blind panic, she called his phone, but there was no answer. She immediately hailed a passing motorcycle taxi, known locally as an Okada, and raced to the scene.

But nothing could have prepared her for the harrowing scenes she witnessed when she got there, she said.

"While I was looking for my son... I saw people running and someone was in the gutter and had an iron bar in his eye. The person was already dead," she recalled.

One year on from the shooting by security forces that quashed Nigeria's fledgling youth protest movement, known as #EndSARS, Adesola (not her real name) is speaking to CNN on the condition of anonymity, for fear of recriminations.

We have also withheld her son's name at her request.

"We got there around 5 or 6 am," she said in her first sit-down interview. "We saw a lot of people. There was a child holding a Nigerian flag lying dead, there was a bullet wound on the side of his body.

"He was a small boy and there were a lot of people there," she told CNN from a makeshift wooden structure where she ekes out a living selling cold beverages.

'He died in my arms'
As Adesola surveyed the scenes of chaos and stepped over the hastily discarded belongings of panicked protesters, she spotted a familiar figure lying in a pool of blood on the ground, wearing just one shoe.

"When I saw my son, I shouted and held him... The blood was too much, there was a bullet wound on his chest. His clothes were torn and the bullet had come out of his back," she said, weeping as she recounted the painful moment.

Despite his injuries, she discovered her son was still alive.

"I saw other people carrying their relatives, so I tried to carry him because he was still breathing at that moment. I called for help and people came to help me put him in a vehicle," she said.

"He was looking at us while we were carrying him. He was just screaming 'ah, ah,' in pain."
They tried desperately to revive him in the car, but he didn't make it, she told CNN.

"He died in my arms," Adesola said. "I was shouting and I couldn't keep calm."
Her son was buried almost immediately in line with Muslim burial rites.

He was 32 and left behind two children, 14 and nine, who had also lost their mother in undisclosed circumstances a few years earlier.

No official death toll
Adesola says she is thankful she was able to find her son's body. Others were not so fortunate.

CNN spoke to several families during an investigation last year who were yet to locate the bodies of their missing loved ones -- protesters at the toll gate -- who dozens of eyewitnesses say were shot at, first by members of the Nigerian army and then hours later by police.

Witnesses told CNN that ambulances were stopped from entering by Nigerian authorities.
There is no official death toll, but an Amnesty International investigation found that at least 12 people died at Lekki tollgate and another site on October 20.

Eyewitnesses told CNN they saw the army remove a number of bodies from the scene.
The CNN investigation pieced together what happened when the Nigerian army and later the police opened fire on civilians as they protested police brutality.

It used time stamps, video data, and geolocation to analyze hours of video shot by protesters -- tracking the army's movements to the Lekki toll gate where protests had been taking place for almost two weeks.
Video shot by an eyewitness appears to show the army shooting toward the crowd. The Nigerian government threatened to sanction CNN for its report.

The Nigerian Army's account of what happened has shifted over time.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the army denied any involvement, describing reports of the incident as "fake news," before backtracking and saying that soldiers were present but fired their weapons in the air and used blanks.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/19/africa/lekki-toll-gate-shooting-one-year-intl-cmd/index.html?s=08

As far as the government and some never-do-wells are concerned, nobody died during the melee and the narrative always boil down to "show us the bodies of the people you claim were killed".

We will not forget nonetheless

Buhari disease fans claim nothing like that happened tufia

Yet some people who were not there, who didn't watch the live broadcast would come here to defend the government either because they are none the wiser or they are bias because they support this government and its wrongdoings or they are just aft! The problem with this country is not just the government... The biggest problem we have in Nigeria are the people who despite knowing the truth would rather believe the lies because it puts money in their pocket... The hypocrites, the falsehoods and the gullible adults who allow themselves to be bamboozled by the lies of the government.

The government continues to drive a wedge causing major ethnic divide because they know that the moment the people speak with one voice the people will overcome... So their tactic is to divide and conquer

So sorry for your loss.

A yoruba adage says that a warrior is known to master the time to fight and retreat.

Well over a decade ago, my brother was an active force in the anti-cult squad in his university. I said to him that the idea is welcome. But, don't be at the forefront, neither be at the back. Kindly, use wisdom. We are not many.

The day I realised that my blood can not redeem anyone my approach to life changed. Some of the greatest weapons in the political space are getting our PVC ready and doing mass awareness to root out incompetent hands out of the system.

I have heard many people say that votes do not count, if they don't, why are some people paid to vote? Why do some heavyweight parties allocate some sum of money to polling centers?

The nation that has lost humanity.

But Nairaland resident Zombies said otherwise, but I know that karma exists.

Every person involved in the killing of innocent protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate will die miserably

Just like Okon, many are still missing, may their soul rest in peace Amen

Imagine

Sad

Tomorrow go hot,,,if I no go out tomorrow,that's means say I be pussyass niggaarr

Fools will still say nothing happened

Yet some foolish ones out there still say it was all a facade? So sorry for your loss.. Nigeria failed you and your son

May God punish y'all zombie dimwits that have been saying nobody was shot at Lekki toll gate.

We saw the videos live as it was happening, as the blood thirsty Nigeria Army were happily shooting at unarmed protesters, we saw people wringling in pains. I cried that night like a baby.
The terrorist government did everything to cover up the murderer of innocent youths, people who were affected were shut up, some were arrested for coming out to say they are related to some of the victims, others who were not willing to keep quiet were taken away by soldiers in their homes and were killed.


We will never forget our HEROES!!!
Their blood will haunt those who sanctioned the killing and those who pulled the trigger.
Their children will pay for it with their bloods.

As we mark the anniversary tommorow many families of the victims will grief, so shall those who sanctioned the killings and those who pulled the trigger grief till the end of their lives.

May the soul of our HEROES who were murdered for protesting peacefully rest in peace.
They were murdered without provocations, they were killed while holding Nigeria flag, they were brutalized while singing the national anthem.

Yet Police brutality has not ended, you can murder freedom fighters but you can murder freedom!!!!!!



#ENDSARS

How come every body said that somebody said nobody died?

We were where we were when the killed people.

Is well but it could have being avoided

I could help you have another son



How about me and you having a romp for just one night



Married women pus**sy is the sweetest



Just like Tiwa savage

I thought they said no one died....

To think some people claim nothing happened still makes me question the sanity of some people who call themselves "patriotic youth".....i mean ontop how much na?

Anyway 20-10-20 we will never forget

Only morons will still doubt that no one was killed by soldiers that night. There was #LekkiTollGateShooting #LekkiMassacre

If you still ask for proof, may what happened that night visit you and your generation to come. No be curse o

AlabiKILLER2021:
I could help you have another son



How about me and you having a romp for just one night



Married women pus**sy is the sweetest



Just like Tiwa savage

Dumbest comment everrrr!!!

Where are those souless arseholesss asking for where are the corpse of those killed at Lekki.

Corpse eaters! Oooya make una go find the woman eat her son's corpse join! There are some people here that are so deadened at heart, so meaninglessly wicked that they are not worth interacting with at all.

Everybody wan cash out.

Sorry for your loss ma

Yet some miserable beings said nobody died

Useless fools

Idiots

Buhari's legacy is glaringly obvious

Nobody was shot