Lekki Massacre: 48 hours after, dead bodies still ‘invisible’-PRNigeria Investigation

48 hours after it was reported that soldiers deployed by the Nigerian Army allegedly shot and killed innocent #EndSARS agitators in Lekki, a suburb in Lagos State, PRNigeria’s investigation still could not identify even a single victim of the massacre who died during the incident.

Some social media reports have claimed that in the Lekki area of the state, armed soldiers, on Tuesday, allegedly shot sporadically at some #EndSARS protesters, killing dozens of persons in the process.

Many protesters, according to the reports, were said to have sustained bullet wounds as a result of the attack that suddenly came just after the billboard on the tollgate and the streetlights around the premises were switched off.

However, PRNigeria reported that Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the State Governor, yesterday said no death was recorded in Tuesday night attack in the Lekki toll gate area of the State.

He confirmed the development in a live broadcast Wednesday morning, saying two critically wounded victims had been operated on and were in stable condition while others with “mild to moderate” cases are still receiving treatments at various hospitals in the area.

Sanwo-Olu, who admitted that soldiers opened fire during the #EndSARS protest at the Lekki toll gate area in a bid to disperse them, said he engaged the leadership of the Nigerian Army on the development.

Many of the people reported to have been killed in the Lekki Protest have since come out to debunk such reports.

A Nollywood movie star Eniola Badmus, who was allegedly shot in the stomach and died at the Lekki Toll Gate has denied the social media reports. Posting on her Instagram, Eniola wrote “Against all speculations about me being shot or dead at the unspeakable incident that happened at the toll gate a few hours ago, I would like to inform you guys that I Eniola Badmus is hale and hearty. I couldn’t make it there today to lend my voice on the #endsars movement.” (https://www.pulse.ng/entertainment/celebrities/eniola-badmus-says-reports-of-her-being-shot-at-lekki-tollgate-are-false/yebpl6b)

A photo of a man carrying a dead lady wrapped in Nigerian flag as posted by Yemi Alade was an image from a movie acted with a theme, “Heal our land, OH LORD!” posted by Yemi Alade was an image from a movie acted with a theme, “Heal our land, OH LORD!” https://www.trendsmap.com/twitter/tweet/1318864211037048832

A young man, Iraoya Godwin, a native of Otuo-Auchi, Edo state who was reported to have been killed also at the Lekki Toll Gate has posted a video on Twitter denying the report. https://twitter.com/i/status/1318872511736614913

There is a trending video of the corpse of Comrade Anthony Okechukwu, a former student of Michael Okpara University Of Agriculture, Umudike Abia State. It is discovered that the young man died in a road accident and not at the Lekki Gate. https://twitter.com/i/status/1318872511736614913

Solacebase reports that there was also a video of one Lucy Adu who was celebrated as a martyr at LekkiMasacre after dancing in the clip. Some of the social media posts celebrating her ‘martyrdom’ read: ”She was dancing an hour before she was murdered by the Nigerian armed forces Lucy was her name Pensive face#endsars – a bullet hit her in the face and ripped half her face off.”

Latest investigation shows that Lucia Adu died from an accident with a stationary truck on 20th October 2020. Her death was not from a gunshot by anyone. This is also confirmed by a new fact-checking Twitter handle on EndSARS https://twitter.com/EndSARSFctCheck

Read Also:#EndSARS Protest: Buhari presides over Security Council meeting

Meanwhile, PRNigeria Editorial team could not get authenticated footages of the bullet-ridden bodies from the alleged LekkiMassacre from credible media sources and EndSARS activists. Yet, two days after the alleged LekkiMassacre, no single family member has reported to security agencies or the media of the death of their loved ones in the incident.

Checks by PRNigeria revealed that not even a single protester allegedly killed during the Lekki incident was reported, even as no single corpse of the massacred protesters was taken to any hospital in the state, as of Wednesday night.

The Assistant Editor, PRNigeria, Mahmood Abdulsalam said “So far, most of the footages we have collected, over 100 in all, showing dead protesters and several others wounded, when we subjected them to our reverse imagery testing tools, indicated they are not recent while others are manipulated images and doctored videos.

We also observe circulations of old pictures of victims injured and killed during violent skirmishes, unrelated to the #EndSARS demonstrations, across the country.”