The vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, has said that it is debatable to describe the shooting that took place at the Lekki Tollgate in 2020 as a “massacre.”
He, however, said that the incident was a violation of procedure and an abuse of human rights.
Baba-Ahmed made this known on Thursday during an interview on Channels TV’s ‘Politics Today’.
When asked if he aligns with those who described and believe that the events of that night was a massacre, Baba-Ahmed said, “There was abuse of human rights, there was abuse of procedure, if some people interpret those as massacre, then yes. However, massacre has different technical meanings, I can’t say I know all of it but I know massacre requires the assailants to have, first of all, no advance notice was given before the attack and the people, the victims must have been attacked in their own areas.
“These are well-meaning Nigerians, who brought themselves out and they were attacked by the security persons that are meant to be protecting their lives and properties. The use of massacre is highly debatable, but I can say for sure that yes, there were abuses of procedure and there were civil rights violations.”