Asking For A Better Country
On 20/10/2020, in a bid to scuffle the peaceful protest going on, the Nigerian government committed genocide on her citizens by unleashing the Army on unarmed peaceful protesters at Lekki Toll gate, Lagos State.
There had been some signals days prior, which had pointed to something like this happening but it was never taken seriously because nobody in their right mind would believe that government would make good on what had looked like usual military Bragado.
On the 17th of October 2020, the Nigerian Army through it's Verified Twitter page, made an impromptu announcement of a certain "operation crocodile smile" which they said is just a military exercise scheduled to be carried out across the 36 states of the country, starting from the 20/10/2020 to 31/12/2020. They claim it would be an all-encompassing military exercise and would also include a "cyber warfare", first of its kind by the military anywhere in Africa. Cyberwarfare is meant to tackle "negative social media propaganda" across the country. Such an odd job description for the military.
If the military coming out to say it is gonna commence an impromptu exercise, which involves cracking down on "negative social media propaganda" isn't spooky and an indication of some sinister plans by the government to frame and kill its citizens, wait till you read the next paragraph.
On the 19/10/2020, news broke that there have been two different incidents of jailbreak in two different prison facilities in Edo State. The White House and the OKO prison and the peaceful protesters were accused of being responsible for breaking the inmates out. Are you smelling anything yet?
How could protesters, who had no access to the prison entrance, supposedly break prisoners out from the outside? These are medium-security prisons which usually have heavily armed prison guards manning them, The walls of these prisons make them almost impregnable from the outside. So how come the national tabloids were quick to blame the protesters for the jailbreaks? Smelling something yet?
Well, it was chaos, understandably so... there was confusion everywhere and the peaceful protesters were quick to deny any knowledge and involvement in the jailbreak. Of course, the government knew the protesters didn't break anyone out, it was the government's doing, they were perfecting a plan - intentionally cause chaos, then send in the military-. Remember this jailbreak craziness is happening on the 19th, and the military is commencing their crocodile smile on the 20th.
In response to the jailbreak and the apparent civil unrest in the state, at about 11:44 am, the governor of Edo State, Mr Godwin Obaseki declared a 24-hour curfew with effect from 4 pm same day, barely 4 hours notice. That's the protest in Edo State systematically shut down by the government.
By dusk of the eve of October 20th, news filtered through Twitter that a certain thug-for-hire had been contacted by the government to attack the protesters in Abuja with thugs. In the heat of everything going on, this sounded like nothing but a rumour to cause unease and fear within the heart of the protesters.
Well, as early as 5 am, 20/10/2020, reports filtered within twitter that some thugs carrying weapons had been spotted in their numbers within strategic protesting locations in Abuja. They arrived early enough, settled in, with the order to attack the protesters. It didn't take up 2hrs before videos and pictures of thugs shooting at and attacking peaceful protesters. Aided and guided by what was confirmed as a government-owned Black Prado SUV, with number plates conveniently wrapped with black leather, and the driver fully kitted in black suit looking just like personnel of the DSS, these thugs unleashed mayhem on the protesters and the city of Abuja. As at 10 am, 3 people had been confirmed dead and scores of cars set on fire. Hmmm...
After carrying out what looked like supervision of proceedings by continuously turning in a roundabout on the video clip circulating on Twitter, the driver of the black Prado SUV was seen stopping for and beckoning on the weapon-wielding thugs who looked to have lost their way from the large maiming groups to jump right in and he'd drive them to safety.
The protest in Abuja had been fully hijacked by the government and it had turned bloody, anarchy looming. This is the government systematically sabotaging and shutting down a peaceful protest in Abuja.
At exactly 12 noon,20/10/2020, the governor of Lagos State, Jide Sanwolu via his verified Twitter handle, declared a 24-hour curfew in the state, with effect from 4 pm. Impromptu, but coincidental? No. Planned and strategic? Yes
So the people of Lagos, just like in Edo State have just 4 hours to get back to their house and stay in indefinitely. Well, it got even more interesting from there onwards. At about 2 pm, what looked like repair and maintenance team were seen at the Lekki Tollgate, disconnecting and removing all the CCTV cameras. When confronted by the protesters, they said they were just doing a job ordered by the Lagos State Government. Remember the Lekki Tollgate it the main protest ground in Lagos. Are you putting it together yet? No? Well, let's proceed...
Even with the impromptu curfew announced by the Lagos State Governor, the protesters were defiant but even more peaceful this time as they decided to all just sit down on the protest ground and sing the national anthem and periodically chanting #endsars.
At about 8 pm, all the lights at the Lekki Tollgate were switched off, and within a few moments later, soldiers moved in and started shooting. sporadically. At first, in the air then later directly at peaceful protesters when they just wouldn't stop chanting #endsars.
The Nigerian Army opened fire directly at unarmed civilians exercising their constitutional rights to protest in a country that supposedly runs a democratic system of government. The army was a willing tool, ready to be used by a corrupt government who would rather kill it's citizens in their numbers than meet the demands of the protesters to disband the killer SARS and reform the police.
THE CROCODILE SMILED AND NIGERIANS DIED.
First, they removed all the cameras from the tollgate, to make sure there wasn't going to be any evidence to pin this massacre on them, then they rolled up in their war tanks and opened fire on unarmed civilians. It doesn't end there. A certain DJ (DJ Switch) who has been ever-present at the Lekki Tollgate since the protest took shape there, confirmed that soldiers were bundling the corpses of those gunned down into their military SUVs. Everything was planned and strategically executed by the government with the army as a willing tool, and they made sure not to leave any concrete evidence in their wake. Dismantling cameras, carting away corpses of the unarmed civilians they killed. What a bloodthirsty administration.
On top of the massacre, ambulances organized and sent to Lekki Tollgate, the location of the mass murder was either turned back by the military or just not allowed to pass through. They want to make sure those who have been wounded don't get treated so as not to give an account of what happened.
The Nigerian government is a criminal enterprise, on par with the worst gangs and mafia all over the world.
Unverified reports, as at the time of writing this journal, claim 78 people were murdered that night at Lekki Toll gate and many more in critical conditions. It was carnage, a massacre.
21/10/2020, Wednesday morning, while those directly affected by the events of last night were still reeling from the pains of their affliction, the rest of Nigeria was in shock and bewilderment. The Nigerian Army has just slaughtered countless unarmed young men and women on a peaceful protest against Police brutality. Is it still a democracy or an autocratic military regime? Who ordered the dismantling of the CCTVs at the Tollgate? Who sent the soldiers? Who gave the order to turn off the Billboard lights at the Lekki Tollgate? Who ordered the soldiers to shoot at will?
Questions, questions and more questions but no one seem to know how to answer them. It seems no one person is really in charge of the country. A presidency but no actual president is running it. Chain of command seems amiss or broken.
The Nigerian Army said there was no single soldier at Lekki Toll gate that night, but there are overwhelming video, audio and pictorial evidence to disprove that claim. What is going on? The people are demanding an explanation but nobody is coming forth with any.
Lagos State Governor, Baba-jide Sanwolu, while speaking in an official broadcast in the morning, claimed that there was no single casualty at the Lekki Tollgate the previous night, that it was nothing but just a handful of injured people, two of whom were set to be discharged that morning. During his broadcast, the Governor kept trying to make the peaceful protesters look bad by using words like "Hoodlums", "hijacked the protest" "protest was no longer peaceful", Mr Sanwolu also said what happened was orchestrated by "forces beyond his control" Who sanctioned the senseless killings of unarmed civilian Nigerians by the army?
The killings didn't end on the night of the massacre, verified videos of what seemed to be armed security agents chasing and shooting civilians in the streets of Lagos were circulating on Twitter.
There were also reported police killings the same morning in Jos, Kano, Aba, Benin.
All these carnage was just because Nigerians protested peacefully, demanding an end to police brutality, instead of listening and acting, Nigeria responded with more brutality. From all indications, it is clear Nigeria would rather go to war with her citizens than reforming the police. What could be the reason for this? Criminal enterprise.
Two months, later, nobody has been held responsible for what happened at the Lekki Tollgate.
