Commanding Officer, 65 Battalion, Bonny Camp, Victoria Island Lt Col Bello has denied allegations that he asked soldiers to open fire at #EndSARS protesters gathered at Lekki toll gate in Lagos on October 20.
Bello is one of the top four military officers listed as witnesses of the Nigerian Army before the Lagos judicial panel of inquiry probing the Lekki shooting.
Bello said the protesters were, in fact, happy to see the soldiers at the toll gate, adding that he personally offered the protesters water and drinks while persuading them to go home and observe the 24-hour curfew declared by the Lagos State Government.
He said: “On getting to the tollgate, I persuaded the crowd to go home and observe the 24-hour curfew declared by the state government. But surprisingly, the hoodlums continued throwing stones, bottles and other dangerous objects at us and were burning tyres. I again fired some blank ammunition upward to scare the hoodlums away. But some protesters who were still at the toll gate sitting down quietly were given water and drinks by me while pleading with them to go home.”
He added: “The claim that the military took away dead bodies was not true. The protesters were happy to see us as indicated in some of the video clips of 20 th October 2020.”
Commander, 9 Brigade Brig.-Gen. Musa Etsu-Ndagi representing the Nigerian Army on the Lagos State Security Council had told the panel in his statement on oath filed at the panel’s registry on Friday that he got a call from Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu around 7:23 pm on October 20 informing him that Bello was reportedly shooting at the toll gate where protesters were gathered.
Etsu-Ndagi said he immediately called Bello who told him that he only fired blank ammunition into the air.
The judicial panel could not sit on Saturday due to lack of quorum after youth members of the panel – Rinu Oduala and Temitope Majekodunmi – boycotted it to protest the freezing of Oduala’s bank account by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
