By Oluwakemi Ishola 

The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has deny culpability in the Tuesday Lekki Toll Gate shootings. The management clarified that it does not handle power supply to Lekki Toll Gate as being reported in the media.

Read the full statement:

EKEDC WISHES TO STATE CLEARLY THAT WE DO NOT SUPPLY POWER TO THE LEKKI TOLL GATE . THE TOLL GATE IS SUPPLIED BY AN IPP . THEREFORE THERE IS NO TRUTH TO THE STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA THAT EKEDC TOOK OUT THE LIGHT

Fellow Lagosians,

It has come to our attention that there are reports circulating that we handle electricity supply to the Lekki Toll Gate and as such we were seen as culpable for switching off power supply before the gruesome events that took place on the 20th of October, 2020.

We will like to RESPECTFULLY and CATEGORICALLY STATE THAT EKEDC DOES NOT HANDLE POWER SUPPLY TO THE LEKKI TOLL GATE and the Toll Gate independently generates itd own power supply through IPPs. The rest of the Lekki area had power supply throughout the night except areas on faults.

We are extremely saddened by the turn of events yesterday and we stand with all well meaning Nigerians who want a better future for our dear nation.

EKEDC Management vows to continue to provide best possible electricity supply, customer service and fault resolution for as long as it is safe for our staff to leave their homes/families and arrive at their work locations safely.

Thank you all as we trust you will partner with us to ensure supply of electricity is kept intact to protect the valuable lives of Lagosians.

Please stay safe.

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

A second BRT terminal at Ojodu-Berger along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is on fire

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, says no death was recorded in Tuesday night attack in the Lekki toll gate area of Lagos State.

The governor made this known in a live broadcast on Wednesday morning, saying two critically wounded victims had been operated on and were in stable condition while others with “mild to moderate” cases are still receiving treatments at various hospitals in the area.

Sanwo-Olu, who admitted that soldiers opened fire on #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate area last night in a bid to disperse them, said he is currently engaging the leadership of the Nigerian Army on the development.

He noted that as a governor of the state, the control of military forces was not under his purview.

Sanwo-Olu said, “For clarity, it is imperative to explain that no sitting governor controls the rules of engagement of the military. I have, nonetheless, ordered an investigation into the rules of engagement adopted by men of the Nigerian Army that were deployed to the Lekki toll gate last night.

“This is with a view to take this up with higher commands of the Nigerian Army and to seek the intervention of Mr President in his capacity to as the Commander-In-Chief to unravel the sequence of events that happened yesterday (Tuesday) night.

“Fellow Lagosians, whilst we pray for the swift recovery of the injured, we have not recorded any fatality as against the widespread circulation on social media.”

“Myself and the leadership of the ministry of health have been going round. Indeed, we went round the hospitals last night. We went round mortuaries last night to see and to monitor for ourselves what has happened and to look and identified the injured protesters.

“We personally visited the hospitals that took in these patients. 10 patients at the General Hospital in Lagos, 11 patients were at the two locations of the Reddington Hospitals both in Lekki and Victoria Island,” he said, adding others sets were at various hospitals in the Lekki area.

“I want to expressly say that over the night, two of them had to go through surgery and I am happy to say that they are all stable and they are recovering very well. Quite a number of others are just mild to moderate states.

“Indeed, three of them had been discharged this morning and I am told that additional three to four will be discharged anytime from now.”

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

FCMB Ondo City is currently being set ablaze by angry protesters after police reportedly shot at them. 

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

Senator AbdulFatai Omotayo Buhari, the lawmaker representing Oyo North Senatorial District in the Red Chamber , has condemned in very strong terms, the killings of some civilians and police officers in the ongoing protests at Lekki in Lagos ,Ojoo in Ibadan and other parts of the country as well as looting of shops and destruction of properties in these areas.

The lawmaker who is deeply saddened and shattered, in his words urged the protesters to calm down while reassuring them that the Federal Government was already attending to their requests.

” I strongly stand with the #EndSars, #EndPoliceBrutality and #ReformPolice protest because it is constitutionally allowed to protest peacefully : freedom of speech, association, right to the law and right good life.

“But I am deeply pained and shattered with the ongoing killings in the nation as a result of the EndSars protest. I share in the grief of the departed souls and I pray the Lord will uphold the families they left behind.

” It is very unfortunate that the very peaceful protest that started in a well civilised manner turned to be bloody after being hijacked by certain evil minded persons who went ahead to loot shops, kill, destroy public infrastructures and broke into prison where 1,993 inmates were reported to have escaped”.

” We are very sensitive to the plights of these protesters and all of us in the senate are working to make sure both the short and long term demands of the protesters are meant.

” Those involved in the evil killings and destruction of properties will be fished out and justice will prevail including their sponsors ,no matter how highly placed.

” I commend the states who have put up proactive measures to compensate the victims and punish those involved in the wicked acts in accordance with the law.

The lawmaker appealed to the protesters to leave the streets and embrace dialogue while waiting for the President to address the nation while calling on all relevant stakeholders to help in ensuring that peace and order is maintained.

The Chairman , Senate Commitee on Land Transport, swang into action when Jimoh Isiaka was killed in Ogbomoso and the palace of the Soun damaged by speaking on the floor of the house to condemn the dastardly act.

The lawmaker later donated some cash to the family of Jimoh Isiaka and also paid off the medical bills of some of the protesters who were receiving treatment from injuries sustained in the cause of the #Endsars protest.

By Oluwakemi Ishola

BRT Bus Station at Oyingbo burnt down by angry mob

TVC headquarters in Lagos burnt down by angry mob

Details Later

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately direct an end to the killings recorded recently in parts of the country.

It made the call in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Tuesday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The statement comes against the background of the shooting of demonstrators by soldiers at the #EndSARS protest at the Lekki Toll Gate.

While peaceful protests have held in various states, some youths have lost their lives to attacks said to be perpetuated by hoodlums.

For the main opposition party – PDP, the killing of peaceful protesters in Lekki and other parts of the country was condemnable.

“It is shocking that security agents and, in some cases, thugs, were reportedly deployed to end the lives of promising Nigerians. This, to say the least, is saddening,” the PDP alleged.

It added, “Those responsible for the heinous murder of the innocent and harmless Nigerians must account for their nefarious acts.”

The party also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring all those responsible for the needless death of the young Nigerians to justice.

In an attempt to disperse protesters gathered at the Lekki Toll Gate, a group of soldiers fired live bullets at the demonstration.

The incident has sparked outrage within and outside the country, as various individuals and groups asked the Nigerian authorities to stop the further killing of unarmed citizens.

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

The Chairman Senate Committee on Local Content and lawmaker representing Oyo Central Senatorial District in the red chamber, Senator Teslim Folarin on Wednesday condemned gruesome killings of civilians and officers of Nigeria Police during #ENDSARS protests in Oyo State and other parts of the country. He described the killings as unfortunate and avoidable.

Oloye Folarin in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity – Com. YSO Olaniyi, said his heart was torn to shreds and deeply felt the pains of the families that lost their loved ones. He pleaded with Nigerian youths to be calm in the face of the protests against police brutality in the country, adding that the Federal and State Governments were already responding to their genuine outcries.

The statement read in part:

“I’m standing with Nigerian youths on #EndPoliceBrutality, #PoliceReform and #GoodGovernance. The protests were peaceful and yielding positive results until the agents of darkness hijacked the struggle. There is no justification for maiming, killings, looting, raping, harassment of fellow citizens and destructions of public infrastructures, all in the name of protests. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Youths should not take laws into their hands. Attacking public properties and facilities is highly unpatriotic. The infrastructures belong to all Nigerians. To destroy is easy but to rebuild will take years. Therefore, let us not destroy our collective heritage while trying to right the wrongs of others”.

“The legislative arm of the government has been very proactive in this struggle. Yesterday, the Nigerian Senate mandated the appropriate authorities to do the needful in the best interests of Nigerians. The NASS has ordered the Police to operate strictly in accordance with the rules of engagement appropriate in a democratic environment. We also urged the Federal Government to faithfully and comprehensively implement all the five demands of the #EndSARS movement and protesters with necessary timelines to rekindle confidence in government”.

“Furthermore, I must say that curfew imposed by some state governments was not to shut up #ENDSARS protesters but to allow security officials to immediately restore peace and orderliness as well as to arrest hoodlums and political miscreants that have hijacked the peaceful protests in order to perpetuate evil acts”.

“While we await President Mohammad’s Buhari to address the nation, I appeal to Nigerian youths to pause protests and embrace dialogue. No war was ever settled in the battlefield” Folarin said.

The three-term federal lawmaker while assuring that he would work with all key stakeholders to ensure the security of lives and property of the people of Oyo Central and Oyo State at large, called on traditional rulers, religious leaders and other stakeholders to continue to urge youths to maintain peace and leave the streets in order to avoid further escalation of the protests.

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

Ekiti State Government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on the state effective from 10pm on Tuesday (today).

Governor Kayode Fayemi said the curfew followed the state governrment’s observation “with growing concern how the ENDSARS protest, which started as a peaceful protest against police brutality by youths in Ekiti State, has been hijacked by some hoodlums.”

“The hoodlums have capitalised on the ENDSARS protest to rape, assault, rob and extort innocent citizens across the State. These are in addition to the wanton destruction of properties, particularly private properties.”

The governor, in a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, on Tuesday titled, ‘Fayemi imposes 24-hour curfew on Ekiti, said, “Government is concerned that if this state of affairs is allowed to continue unabated, it will lead to a breakdown of law and order thereby threatening the wellbeing of the people of Ekiti State.”

“In the past 48 hours there have been incidents of gang-rape, robberies, physical assaults on innocent people, looting and burning of a police station. These acts of brigandage are not in consonance with the legitimate aspirations of the protesters. It cannot be logical to seek to remedy impunity with impunity.

ATTACKS ON POLICE FACILITIES, OTHERS – IGP ORDERS DEPLOYMENT OF ANTI-RIOT POLICE OFFICERS

Charges Officers To Protect Lives And Defend Critical Infrastructure

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has ordered immediate nationwide deployment of anti-riot police unit – the Police Mobile Force (PMF) – to protect lives and property of all Nigerians and secure critical national infrastructure across the country. The IGP has also ordered massive deployment of Police operatives to strengthen security around Correctional facilities nationwide. The orders are coming on the heels of increasing attacks including acts of arson and malicious damage to public and private facilities as recorded in some States of the Federation including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Consequently, the Commissioners of Police in the thirty-six (36) States of the Federation and the FCT are to identify and isolate law-breakers from peaceful protesters; immediately arrest and diligently prosecute such perpetrators of violence in their respective Commands. The IGP notes that twelve (12) suspects have been arrested in connection with the attacks and arson on Police Stations in Benin, Edo State. Five (5) AK47 rifles earlier stolen from vandalized Police Stations have also been recovered.
The Inspector-General of Police calls on members of the public to avail the police with useful information that can lead to the re-arrest of the fleeing inmates, unlawfully released from Correctional facilities. Meanwhile, the IGP has advised parents/guardians to prevail on their children/wards to steer-clear of acts of violence and criminality as the Force will henceforth exercise the full powers of the law to prevent any further attempt on lives and property of citizens.
DCP FRANK MBA
FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
FORCE HEADQUARTERS
ABUJA

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

Oyo East Local Government Caretaker Chairman, Saheed Arowosaye, yesterday, said his administration has embarked on development of projects specific to each Ward.

The Caretaker Chairman, said the projects include rehabilitation of boreholes, purchase of generators and temporary repairs of bad roads, adding that some of them have been commissioned.

Arowosaye said this was in fulfilment of one of the key promises of Governor Seyi Makinde, to touch every part of the State with developmental projects.

He said over 12 motorised and hand pump boreholes have been rehabilitated in the first phase of the projects, to address the perennial water crisis in Oyo East Local Government.

According to him, the projects were arrived at using a bottom-top approach, as the intervention was initiated in response to the series of requests by the various communities in the Local Government to address specific challenges.

He said the execution of the projects would change the narrative about grassroots development and the responsibilities of Caretaker Chairmen in Oyo State.

He said: “Following in the footsteps of our dear Governor and leader, His Excellency, Engr. Seyi Makinde and part of our efforts to address the perennial water crisis in the local government, today, I flagged off the “1st Phase” of Rehabilitation of the following Motorised and Hand pumps Boreholes; Motorised Borehole at Ile Okun, Agboye. Ward 1; Hand pumps borehole at Bara, beside cemetery, ward 1; Motorised borehole at beside ile Baba Oba Effon House, Ogese, ward 2; Hand pump borehole at Kanga junction, ward 3; Motorised borehole at Alaodi, ward 3.

Others are Motorised borehole at ile kanga mosque, ward 3; Motorised borehole at ilaka , ward 5; Motorised borehole at alelerin ward 8; Motorised borehole at ile lakanla, jabata, ward 7; Motorised borehole at Central mosque Oke Apo, ward 8; Motorised borehole at Central mosque jabata, ward 7 and Motorised borehole at Adebumi Araromi, back of maternity, ward 10.

Arowosaye added that the Local Government also purchased brand new electricity generating sets for communities where some of the boreholes are located, to ensure availability of water even when there is blackout.

The Oyo East Local Government boss added that the projects are conceived in response to requests by the various communities to address specific challenges and is tailored to meet the needs of each.

He added that by this, the present administration had taken “dividends of democracy” to the grassroots in a way never seen before in the Oyo State.

By Oluwakemi Ishola 

The Socialist Congress of Nigeria (SCON) has thrown its weight behind the ongoing #ENDSARS protests in Nigeria. It called for good governance as a panacea to the country’s socio-economic unrest.

SCON made its position known in a special press statement made available to journalists on Tuesday. The socio-political pressure group said the REAL owners of Nigeria who are protesters, deserve a humane, patriotic, and more accountable law-enforcement system.

The full statement reads:

GOVERNANCE AND THE CHARACTER OF LAW-ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM IN NIGERIA

A Press Statement by Socialist Congress of Nigeria (SCON)

The Socialist Congress of Nigeria (SCON) is in full solidarity with Nigeria’s youth (#EndSarsNow; #EndSARS; #EndPoliceBrutalityinNigeria; #EndInsecurityinNigeria) who are on the streets across Nigeria and in diaspora insisting that the masses of our people, the REAL owners of Nigeria, deserve a humane, patriotic, and more accountable law-enforcement system. We solidarize with Nigeria’s labouring people and their allies today as always.

We believe that the gains the masses will make from the monumental sacrifices the Nigerian youths are making through their protests will depend ultimately on a coherent answer to the question of why the law-enforcement agencies in Nigeria have been so consistently punitive, brutal and unaccountable since the colonial days!

Historical Precedents

It is important to trace briefly the historical character of policing in Nigeria to its colonial root. In this regard, we recall the punitive expeditions against ordinary Nigerians of the colonial army and police in the early- and mid-1900s at Iseyin; in the tin mines on Jos Plateau; the Enugu Coal Mines; Bakalori, Sokoto massacre; Aba riots! Straddling colonial and post-independence periods in Western Nigeria, we remember the brutal police violence against tax-payers and farmers in 1952 and 1969 especially.

Since the Nigerian ruling class-imposed SAP in 1984, the army and police have visited horrifying violence on farmers (as in Bakalori), university students (Zaria, Ile-Ife, Benin City and Nsukka), women and other ordinary Nigerians. And since then, there have been catalogues of violence at Odi, Zaki Biam, Southern Kaduna etc. The colonial character of the police as a repressive and oppressive agent has remained because post-colonial economic and socio-political policies have continued to generate mass poverty, exploitation, ruling class impunity creating gulfs of inequality.

Since the mid-1980s, the Nigerian ruling class have embarked on stripping Nigeria naked auctioning public assets, incurring mountains of debts, paying dubious creditors, privatizing health care, education and public utilities. Meanwhile citizens continue to see scandalous private wealth among the rulers and their cronies who do nothing. The democracy that ordinary Nigerians made so much sacrifices to wrestle from military dictators has been reduced to a sham of fake and fraudulent electoral promises that are abandoned immediately after the equally fraudulent elections!

Is there anyone who still doesn’t know why the Nigerian ruling class always needs punitive policing and a brutal police force? Is anyone still at a loss as to why law-enforcement in Nigeria remains underdeveloped and the police is underpaid and treated like slaves of the ruling class? Is anyone surprised that government and their policing policies prohibit protests and public gatherings routinely or why they brutalize and kill protesters without facing the wrath of the law?

The defiant expression of public anger against police brutality in the last few days has forced government to make deceitful promises of reforms and scrapping of SARS. The same time as government is announcing that it had disbanded SARS protesting youth are still being killed for protesting! This means that under the economic and socio-political policies of this ruling class, police brutality is a systemic phenomenon; and it will not matter whether the name is MOPOL, SARS, SWAT, or CROCODILE SMILE!

What is to be done?

This struggle must advance based on insistence that the people and its youth own Nigeria.

The electoral system must shift power away from dark money and deep pockets.

Cost of governance must be curtailed drastically and decision-making powers must be devolved significantly to local levels.

The auctioning of public assets must be stopped. All previous privatisation of public utilities must be reversed with their control put under democratic control of the people.

Public-funded health care and education must be revitalized.

Basic services like water supply, power, roads, environment care and ecological monitoring must all get substantial public funding.

The vast amounts of public funds estimated at over N90 trillion in private custody or unremitted from various public agencies such as NNPC, DPR, PPPRA, Central Bank etc must be retrieved for urgent public financing of education, health and public services.
The Nigerian ruling class serving as lackeys for transnationals with the World Bank and IMF backing them with unconscionable anti-people policies have again reached the end of the road. They will be re-setting and re-grouping.

The masses across our country and their allies must reject ethnic, regional and religion-based explanations of social and economic inequality; we must remain united and vigilant. We must support the youth to fight for the real issues militating against Nigeria’s development and youth creativity. #EndSarsNow; #EndSARS; #EndPoliceBrutalityinNigeria; #EndInsecurityinNigeria.