By Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja

The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami came under fire on Sunday over his comment on the October 20 shooting at the Lekki toll gate, Lagos.

The Nation had reported Malami said it was likely hoodlums wearing military fatigues, and not soldiers, shot the #EndSARS protesters.

But Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), described Malam’s statement as: “an unwarranted irritation and an aggressive form of insults and lack of respect for the innocent peaceful protesters in Lekki Toll Gates Lagos who were on 20th October 2020 despatched to the great World beyond by Men and officers of the military paid with taxpayers money to defend the territorial integrity of Nigeria”.

HURIWA asked the Minister to apologise and resign now that: “it has become authoritatively unambiguous that Nigerian Army indeed were deployed to the LEKKI Toll Gates Lagos on October 20th 2020 because according to the Rights group, that attempt by the Federal Attorney General to use sophistry to seek to create confusion around the circumstances surrounding the massacre that characterized the deployment of armed soldiers on the ground of the peaceful protests in LEKKI Toll Gates Lagos in which undetermined number of Nigerians may have been killed in the ensuing gun shots unleashed allegedly by the soldiers on peaceful protesters in LEKKI Toll Gates Lagos”.

A statement by the National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko said: “It was disingenuous that the minister of justice Abubakar Malami tried to spread confusion by suggesting the possibility that soldiers never got deployed to the LEKKI Toll Gates Lagos because according to Reuters, Malami told journalists on last Monday in Abuja that investigation is underway to ascertain what truly happened at the Lekki tollgate just as Malami said it was “pre-emptive” to conclude that there had even been shootings, adding that “hoodlums” may have been hired to create a scene.

“The Federal Attorney General and minister of justice Abubakar Malami then proceeded to assert thus: “You cannot rule out the possibility of perhaps hoodlums that set in to create a scene… could equally partake in the process,” the AGF reportedly said.

“HURIWA recalled that the Army has now made it unambiguous that indeed soldiers and not hoodlums as suggested by Abubakar Malami SAN indeed invaded the vicinity of the peaceful protests at the LEKKI Toll Gates Lagos just as the Army in its testimony before a judicial inquisition in Lagos maintained that there was no massacre at the Lekki toll gate as no live ammunition was used on the #EndSARS protesters. The army also denied taking dead bodies away”.

The 65 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, the formation said to have been involved in the October 20 Lekki shooting, has said soldiers only fired blank ammunitions at protesters.

Pop star, Davido, has revealed that the female #EndSARS protesters gave him the courage to join the campaign against police brutality.

The iconic singer, while speaking on Apple Radio’s Africa Now with DJ Cuppy, added that when he got to the protest ground, the protesters were angry at him for joining them late.

Davido said, “I got my courage from all the other youths that went out there before me. They had been protesting for days before I even went there. I would say those people gave me a lot of courage especially the females, the women that were there protesting.

“When I first got there they were attacking me and people were even angry at me that why am I just coming? Where have I been? I could see the pain on the faces of Nigerians. Especially with the background that I am from, I felt it would be very insensitive for me not to lend my voice. The next day, I went to see the Inspector General of Police and it was not really productive if you ask me. What I mean by productive is the fact that they did not act on our demands.”

The Fem singer commented on his viral picture where he was seen sitting on the ground with other protesters with his hands raised in the air. He explained that it was his way of signalling that he came in peace.

“In the picture of me that circulated around social media where I was sitting on the floor with my hands in the air, all I was trying to do was to inform them that I come in peace. I watch a lot of news and protests that are staged all over the world and that is what I see them do. That is why I asked everyone to sit on the floor. It was amazing to be part of that.

He continued, “Fem being the anthem for the protest was just a matter of timing. I recorded Fem since May. There is a post on my page where I put a 20 seconds snippet of Fem way back in June. I did not see this coming. When I released the song, I realized that three weeks later everybody was singing it at protest grounds. When I went to the National Assembly building they said that I went to record a song for them. I had to explain to them that I had recorded the song since June. I was happy that they used my song as a voice for a non-violent protest. They were really enjoying it.”