On 20th October 2021, organisers of the #EndSARS protests are planning a motorised memorial procession from the Lekki Toll Gate to commemorate last year’s bloody finale to agitations by youths against police brutality.
According to one of the organisers, Folarin Falana, otherwise known as Falz the Bad Guy, in an Instagram post, the procession will take place between 8 am and 10 am.
Intending protesters are advised to stay put in their vehicles for their safety.
The theme of the protests is “We will not be silenced”.
On 20th October 2020, #EndSARS protesters came to a bloody end when Nigerian security officials arrived the Lekki Toll Gate, scene of the protests and fired shots to disperse the crowd.
While it was alleged that many protesters were shot, there has yet to be any successful prosecution with both sides trading the veracity of their claims as to whether there were really killings or not at scene of the protests.
The days following the Lekki Toll Gate incident saw a lot of destruction of public property and kiling of policemen by hoodlums who some claimed were members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).
But the Chairman of the Lagos State Council, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly called MC Oluomo, vehemently denied the claim.
“May I put it on record that no member of the NURTW has been arrested or identify(ed) as being part of the hoodlums that went about burning and looting. I commend the NURTW family for this and I urge them to maintain their good behaviours,” he said.
Soon after the incident, a panel instituted to investigate the allegations of police brutality and the October 20 shootings was set up by the Lagos State government and is still sitting.
Even though there was the mention of the death and burial of an alleged protester in LM, the story had to be pulled down immediately as a show of respect to the family of the deceased who pleaded that story be retracted.
Nonetheless, various media reports have alluded to the evidence of actual killings of protesters whose families could not speak out because of the fear of harassment by security operatives.
Wednesday’s planned protests may turn out to be a showdown between the protesters and the police who have vowed to resist any planned protests to commemorate the anniversary of the October 20 incident.
