On the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 p.m., members of the Nigerian Armed Forces opened fire on peaceful End SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Officials have not disclosed the number of casualties. Nigerian musician DJ Switch, a witness who was present at the shooting, said that armed soldiers and police officers shot at her and other peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate on Tuesday night. She said at least 15 people were killed in the shootings and that she and other survivors took the victims’ bodies to the soldiers who took them away. In addition, there have been complaints about missing persons (friends and family members), and few have been confirmed to be hospitalized and in critical condition. A day after the incident (21 October 2020), the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu, initially denied any loss of life by gunfire, but later admitted on an interview with CNN that two persons were killed. Amnesty International stated that at least 12 protesters were killed in what the organization described as "extrajudicial executions"
The Nigerian Army has been known to open fire and kill unarmed civilians in previous incidents, most notably in a 2018 attack on Shiite Muslims who were protesting against the jailing of a cleric in which 45 Nigerians were killed. Since the country's return to civilian rule in 1999, soldiers have killed unarmed civilians in several incidents including: Odi, Zaki Biam, Baga, Zaria, and Abonema
The End SARS is a decentralized social movement against police brutality in Nigeria. The slogan calls for an end to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a controversial unit of the Nigerian Police Force with a long record of human-rights abuses. In 2016, a human rights activist, Segun Awosanya popularly known as Segalink started EndSARS campaign on social media prompting police authority to announce reform of the police unit but nothing was achieved at the time. In 2018, Nigerian rapper Michael Ugochukwu Stephens known by his stage name as Ruggedman joined the campaign to end police brutality releasing a single titled, Is Police Your Friend
The protests became more popular in 2021 on Twitter using the hashtag #EndSARS to demand the Nigerian government disband and reform the police unit. After experiencing a revitalization in October 2020, mass demonstrations were occurring throughout Nigeria in major cities, and the hashtag had 28 million tweets. Nigerians shared stories and video evidence of how members of SARS were engaged in kidnapping, murder, theft, rape, torture, unlawful arrests, humiliation, unlawful detention, extrajudicial killings, and extortion in Nigeria. SARS officers have been alleged to profile youths based on fashion choices, mount illegal road blocks and searches, conduct unwarranted temperature checks, arrest without warrant, rape women, and extort young Nigerians for driving luxury cars and using expensive electronics.
The Nigerian president had announced that he would scrap the police unit (SARS) and directed state Governors to constitute a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to decide on cases of killings and brutality by officers of the defunct SARS so punishment can be meted on rogue officers. However, the protesters have refused all entreaties to suspend the protests and nominate youth Representatives into the Judicial Panel and called the government's bluff.
Within a few days of renewed protests, some claimed victory as the Nigerian Police Force announced it would be dissolving SARS on Sunday, 11 October 2020. However, many noted similar promises had been made in recent years, and that the government planned to reassign and review SARS officers to medical centres rather than remove them entirely. Protests have continued accordingly, and the Nigerian state has maintained a pattern of violent repression, including the killing of demonstrators. There have been international demonstrations in solidarity with those happening in the country, and the scope of the movement has also grown increasingly critical of the Muhammadu Buhari-fronted Nigerian state and society as a whole.
Protesters had been camping at the Lekki Toll Gate for two weeks prior to the shooting. The protesters prevented vehicular traffic on the major thoroughfare during these two weeks of demonstrations.
According to Amnesty International, shortly before the shooting, CCTV cameras were allegedly removed from the toll gate. The Lagos State Government subsequently said these were laser cameras and not CCTV cameras as earlier publicized on social media. In addition, the electricity supplying lights to the toll gate was cut and the advertisement billboards, which are owned and maintained by Loatsad Media, were turned off. Loatsad Media stated, "On Tuesday [20 October] when the curfew was announced we heeded the governors warnings and didn't want our staff in any danger, hence by 3 pm, our staff had been ordered to leave the site and the board was switched off based on the governors curfew request." Protesters who used MTN and Airtel as their network providers reported that network antennas in that area had been switched off, leaving them unable to make phone calls or use the internet. MTN Nigeria apologised later that night for the loss of coverage at the time of the shooting. On 21 October, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), released a statement explaining that network downtime experienced during the massacre was as a result of damages to fiber cables across major routes in the city resulting in congestion and poor network services
According to one witness, after the lights were switched off at the toll gate, soldiers arrived and allegedly began shooting directly at the crowd. Another witness stated that the shooting continued for fifteen to thirty minutes and that after the shooting he observed multiple bodies on the ground. The soldiers were said to have walked in a formation towards the protesters with trucks flashing light before they opened fire.
Following a message spread on social media that protesters would be safe if they sang the national anthem and waved the Nigerian flag, Protesters sat down with locked arms singing the Nigerian anthem and waving the Nigerian flag as 20 armed military personnel approached. Video of the event shows them raising their voices in song as they are shot.[
A popular Nigerian DJ, DJ Switch, live-streamed the event on Instagram during and in the aftermath of the shooting. In the video, they attempted to remove a bullet from the leg of a man who was shot, tying a Nigerian flag around his leg.
At least 46 people were killed around Nigeria on Tuesday, October 20 according to data gathered by Lagos-based risk advisory, SBM Intelligence. In the hours after the shooting, People's Gazette, a local newspaper, reported that the army had tried to give nine bodies to the police to help them bury. The police rejected the bodies. On October 23, DJ Switch made a video on Instagram where she explained what happened and said that she counted up to 15 bodies.
Reuters graphic of deaths in Nigeria on October 20, 2020.
In an independent analysis of the attack, Wall Street Journal investigated various clips from social media and concluded that indeed the massacre took place in Lekki. A detailed report by Nigerian newspaper, Premium Times, established the events that led to the massacre, an attempted cover-up, and abandonment of victims by the Lagos State Government.
On 29 October, Amnesty International released the timeline of attack:
At 6:29p.m local time in Lagos, two military vehicles were filmed leaving Bonny Camp on videos shared on the social media.
Another footage shows four vehicles with flashing lights in a convoy, and they appear to be vehicles used by the Nigerian military and police.
At approximately 6.45pm, the Nigerian military opened fire on the #EndSARS protesters who were peaceful
In a report on 21 October, Amnesty International stated that at least 12 protesters were killed in what the organization described as "extrajudicial executions". A former marketer with Etisalat Telecommunications Company (now 9Mobile) was reported to be one of the casualties. In contrast, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, initially said nobody was killed at Lekki and later tweeted that one person died at hospital as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and that the connection to the protest was under investigation. The Nigerian military denied responsibility for the shooting, tweeting that media reports were "fake news".
According to witnesses, the military did not allow ambulances to provide aid and removed corpses from the scene of the shooting
On the day of the shooting, on 20 October 2020, the government imposed a city-wide round-the-clock curfew in Lagos which was to start at 4 p.m. and had only been announced earlier that day around 1 p.m. via social media. Protesters defied the curfew although it was later extended till 9 p.m. by the Lagos State Governor, staging several demonstrations, and gunfire could be heard throughout the city. Several fires burned throughout Lagos after the shooting. A few hours after the massacre, the Lagos State Governor visited the injured victims in hospitals in Lagos. In a statement on Twitter, he attributed the massacre to "forces beyond our direct control
In a statement made on 22 October 2020, the President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari called for calm and said he would promote police reforms; however, he did not issue a statement or acknowledge the massacre at the Lekki toll gate.
U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden called on the Nigerian government to cease the "violent crackdown on protesters". Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tweeted that Nigerian authorities should "stop killing young #EndSARS protesters".
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet stated that "There is little doubt that this was a case of excessive use of force, resulting in unlawful killings with live ammunition, by Nigerian armed forces". U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that Nigerians' right "to protest peacefully needs to be guaranteed" and that "police brutality needs to stop, and those responsible for acts of such dramatic violence are made accountable".
The violence was strongly condemned by the chairman of the African Union Commission. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab expressed deep concern and alarm at the reports of civilian deaths, calling for an end to the violence.
Nigerian international footballer Odion Ighalo said he was ashamed of the Nigerian government. Members of Nigeria women's national football team, including Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene, condemned the massacre.
In solidarity and to pay his respect to the "fallen heroes", acclaimed African giant Burna Boy released a song titled 20:10:20, marking the day of the Lekki massacre
On 26 October, Lagos State government constituted a Judicial Panel of Inquiry to investigate happenings during the EndSARS protests and to establish who shot protesters, who was affected, how much compensation victims should get, and who should be prosecuted. The 8 member panel is headed by Doris Okuwobi, a retired justice. Segun Awosanya (Segalink) one of the initiators of EndSARS campaign was appointed to the panel representing human rights activist. Rinu Oduala and Majekodunmi Temitope are representatives of the youth.
Following a call for submission of petitions against police brutality by the panel, several victims sent in damning reports of torture, killings and other human rights abuses by the police.
During a visit to the scene of the Lekki Toll Gate massacre, the panel found spent bullet shells.The panel was denied access to a military hospital suspected of holding bodies of the victims for over 30 minutes but when the panel eventually gained access into the facility it was found purportedly under renovation and empty
