…Says Suspending Twitter’s Operations In Nigeria Most Difficult Decision
By Augustine Akhilomen
Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has maintained that no one died at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos during the 2020 EndSARS protest.
Speaking on Wednesday during an interview, Mohammed insisted that claims of a massacre at the toll gate were “fake news.”
Politics Nigeria recalls that on the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 p.m., members of the Nigerian Army opened fire on unarmed EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos.
It was reported that at least 12 protesters were killed during the shooting. Five years later, the government still insists that no one was killed.
Reaffirming his stance, Mohammed said five years have passed, and no one has reported that a relative went to the Lekki toll gate and never returned.
He said, “People died in many places during EndSARS, but saying there was a massacre at the toll gate is fake news. I still stand by my position. Nobody died during EndSARS, no.
“People died in Abuja and Kano. CNN was not at the toll gate; they relied on secondhand and thirdhand information.
“My argument was simple, if a man owns a goat and it doesn’t return home at night, he will look for it.
“Five years later, nobody has come forward to say their son or ward went to the toll gate and didn’t come back. The narrative of a massacre at the toll gate is fake news.”
Meanwhile, Lai Mohammed, has said that one of the most difficult decisions he took as a minister was suspending Twitter operations in Nigeria.
He said that the decision was taken in the national interest because Twitter at a point became the platform of choice for those destabilising the country.
“One of the multiple and most difficult decisions I took was suspending Twitter’s operation in Nigeria.
“I had to take that decision on national interest, because a time came when Twitter became the platform of choice for all those who are destabilizing the country.
“So there are some decisions like that that you have to take, not because you like them.
“The trigger for that decision was not because late former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet was deleted. I went to President Buhari, and I asked him, Sir, we need to suspend the services of Twitter.
“And he asked why? Is it because they deleted my tweet? I said no sir. And I gave him instances and examples.
“You see, I have been an advocate of regulating social media for a very long time. I started by visiting media houses. I started by trying to work with them, but it was clear in my mind that an unregulated social media could be a disaster.
“If you monitored me between 2016 and 2023, I was always on the issue of social media, and I kept saying, I’m not trying to stifle free press, but we must regulate the social media,” he said.