Lekki Toll Gate Shooting: Nigerians slap down first victim to cry out

As investigation into the Lekki Toll Gate shooting rolls on, the first victim to come forward on social media—though a judicial panel is waiting for in-person hearing—has hit a brickwall.

October 27, a video clip is trending online of an unidentified woman claiming her son Anthony was shot dead by soldiers at the toll gate on the night of October 20. She said his friends recovered his corpse.

But Nigerians are not taking Tony’s mother as sincere—because they know the story of her son’s death on the Lekki expressway during the weeks-long ENDSARS protest.

Pretty Loveth, one of the protesters, wrote on Facebook, “He didn’t die at Lekki tollgate, him (he) and his two friends bumped into a trailer on their way home at Petrocam Filling Station, close to Lagos Business School, Ajah. RIP Tony, we all miss you brother.”

Another protesters identified as Ijaw Philosopher also dismissed the video.

“Tony Umeh was among the three people that had an accident on their way back from the protest before the toll gate incident, so why is this London woman alleged to be his mother claiming he was killed by the military?” he tweeted.

The Lekki incident has een reported as a massacre, prompting a global outrage as Nigerians and international communities call for an investigation.

And Lagos Gov Babajide Sanwo Olu has set up a panel of enquiry to look into the ENDSARS protest and the Lekki Tol Gate shooting allegation.

Up till now, the Justice Dori Okwuobi panel has received only 15 petitions against SARS, and none yet related to the Lekki incident—seven days after.

“We are relying on civil society orgaisations to assist the panel with credible evidence of the killings at the Lekki tollgate plaza,” she said.

International NGO like Amnesty International whose report became the source for most media organisations, home and abroad, has yet to present its evidence to the panel.