Despite the threats by the Nigerian government and police, defiant Nigerian youths under the hashtag, #OccupyLekkiTollgate, this Saturday went ahead to stage the planned second Lekki tollgate protest.
Several of the youths unarmed and peaceful, FirstNews reports, trooped to the tollgate, to protest the Lagos EndSARS panel approval of the reopening of the tollgate, when justice is yet to be done to the victims of the Lekki tollgate protesters allegedly massacred on October 20, 2020, by the Nigerian soldiers and other security operatives.
Amid the presence of security operatives that flooded the tollgate since on Friday, with more joining their colleagues early Saturday morning, the defiant youths still took their protest to Lekki tollgate.
And the Nigerian security operatives, which have a history of alleged human rights abuses, have arrested several of the unarmed and peaceful protesters.
At the scene of the protest, one of the coordinators of #OccupyLekkiTollgate, Kunle Ajayi told newsmen, many of the protesters had been arrested by the security operatives, detained in a black maria and about to be conveyed to an unknown location.
He said, “Police have just arrested 10 protesters – four ladies and six guys. They were beaten mercilessly and injured.”
Also, one of the protesters, in a video on social media said, “We have been arrested. Over 10 of us. We are kept in a black maria stationed at the toll gate now.”
However, an unconfirmed report claimed over 20 of the protesters had been arrested.
The likeliness that many more would be arrested is very high, as the defiant youths appear not to be ready to back down. The security operatives, on the other hand, may stop at nothing to ensure the protest is nipped in the bud as quickly as possible.
The Nigerian government had said on Thursday that citizens have the right to protest. It, however, vowed to stop the Lekki tollgate second protest under argument that it would be hijacked by enemies of the country, who wants it destabilised.
Meanwhile, a group, #DefendLagos, which vowed to counter the EndSARS 2 protest has withdrawn from the protest.
They claimed they withdrew in obedience to government’s directives that no protest should hold.