Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has denied any deaths from yesterday’s shooting at the Lekki tollgate area of Lagos State.
Stating this during a televised address this morning, he said that 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 admitted that soldiers opened fire on #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate area last night in a bid to disperse them. However, he said he is currently engaging the leadership of the Nigerian Army on the development.
He noted that as a governor of the state, the “direct control” of military forces was beyond him.
Sanwo-Olu said, “For clarity, it is imperative to explain that no sitting governor controls the rules of engagement of the military. I have, nonetheless, ordered an investigation into the rules of engagement adopted by men of the Nigerian Army that were deployed to the Lekki toll gate last night.
“This is with a view to take this up with higher commands of the Nigerian Army and to seek the intervention of Mr. President in his capacity to as the Commander-In-Chief to unravel the sequence of events that happened yesterday (Tuesday) night.
“Fellow Lagosians, whilst we pray for the swift recovery of the injured, we have not recorded any fatality as against the widespread circulation on social media.
“Myself and the leadership of the ministry of health have been going around. Indeed, we went round the hospitals last night. We went round mortuaries last night to see and to monitor for ourselves what has happened and to look and identified the injured protesters.
“We personally visited the hospitals that took in these patients. 10 patients at the General Hospital in Lagos, 11 patients were at the two locations of the Reddington Hospitals both in Lekki and Victoria Island,” he said, adding others sets were at various hospitals in the Lekki area.
“I want to expressly say that over the night, two of them had to go through surgery and I am happy to say that they are all stable and they are recovering very well. Quite a number of others are just mild to moderate states.
“Indeed, three of them had been discharged this morning and I am told that additional three to four will be discharged anytime from now.”
