Less than 12 hours President Muhammadu Buhari sacked the service chiefs and appointed new ones on Tuesday, several groups in civil society had commenced mobilization of support for the investigation and prosecution of former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the #Lekkishooting of Nigerian Youths during the peaceful #EndSARS protest of police brutality in Nigeria. The October 20, 2020, incident was phenomenal, and people acknowledged it with the slogan of “#Lekkishooting We Will Never Forget.” The incident attracted global attention with urgency as it was broadcast live on Instagram with live streaming across the world by D.J. Switch.
Leading the mobilization for justice for the #Lekkishooting, Amnesty International, has opened a link calling for signatures on a petition to the ICC. Some other non-governmental organizations have also joined the league of mobilisers for the prosecution of the former COAS at the ICC for alleged war crime and perceived extra-judicial killings.
The #Lekkishooting has been a prolonged issue at the Lagos investigation panel on police brutality with heated arguments and counterarguments, claims and counterclaims.
The arguments and presentations at the investigation panel in Lagos appear to reveal that the military action may have been carried out without the knowledge of the COAS, Buratai. However, President Muhammadu Buhari has been commending the Nigerian Army overtime for quelling the #EndSARS protest of police brutality and extra-judicial killing by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit of the Nigerian Police Force, which the president ordered the immediate disbandment by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.
The former COAS, Lt. Gen. Buratai, was replaced on Tuesday with other service chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces by President Buhari as the surge of violence crimes across the country by bandits, Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, etc, continued unabated despite the intervention efforts of the security agencies. The rising violent crimes are also beginning to raise tension and threats of inter-ethnic conflagration and civil war in the country. The Fulani/Yoruba faceoff in Oyo and Ondo states in the southwest was becoming hyper-sensitive to threats of bloodshed and disintegration of the country.
The #EndSARS protest of police brutality was acknowledged by the Nigerian government, including President Buhari, to be peaceful until it was hijacked by those identified as hoodlums who took to violence and destruction of public edifices.