By Safiu Kehinde
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has finally replied the trivia question surrounding the 2020 Lekki shooting which had, for years, being the talking point of #EndSARS Protest.
The governor finally stated his position as regards who ordered the shooting at Lekki Tollgate while speaking earlier today during his appearance on the Good Morning Show on Arise TV.
When the program anchor raised the controversial question, Sanwo-Olu made reference to last year’s Magodo demolition attempt where the Chief Superintendent of Police, Abimbola Oyewole, led his team to perform an acclaimed order of the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, without notifying the governor, as well as the deployment of military operatives into the state during last month’s general election.
“I don’t control the Police and the Military “- Sanwo-Olu
“In regards to the question of who ordered the shooting, who ordered for a CSP not to visit me when I went to Magodo the other day? So you can see! We had election last Sunday, there were more militants out there than the Police. Who ordered them?
“It is not in my remit. It is not in my space. But if we just drop it for one second and just do a replay, ask what were my own actions before, during, and after.
“I went out that night. I went to all the hospitals that we could have patients. I saw things by myself and reported what I saw by 8 O’clock the following morning,” Sanwo-Olu said.
While admitting to having no power over the militants and police activities, the governor reflected back to the event, explaining its protracted nature and the uprising that followed.
He said, “It wasn’t a flash incident. It was an incident that has piled up for three weeks. I didn’t have control. I don’t control the Police and the Military. We are still on conversation to do State Policing. We’ve been on it for the past three to four years.
“The #EndSARS had started almost two weeks before that incident of October 20. It had built up itself in various locations. People had come to some certain locations as the place where they can always agitate.”
