Following the series of reports and investigations on the #EndSARs protest, the global community has taken a deeper interest in the reportages in the media of the alleged Lekki toll gate massacre, where young peaceful unarmed protesters were killed.
Members of the U.K Parliament on Monday unanimously called for selected sanctions against Nigerian government officials and military officers who participated in human rights violations during the #EndSARS protest. In a unanimous condemnation of police brutality and killing of unarmed protesters in Nigeria.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the army denied any involvement, describing reports of the incident as “fake news,” before backtracking and saying that soldiers were present but fired their weapons in the air and used blanks, not live rounds.
Meanwhile, on November 14, during a judicial inquiry into the shooting, army representative Brigadier Ahmed Taiwo said, “There’s no way officers and men will kill their brothers and sisters. I repeat no way. We have those who constantly seek to drive a wedge between us and between the citizens of Nigeria…”
The debate which was sparked by an e-petition calling for sanctions against the Nigerian government was co-signed by over 200,000 individuals and was supported by all parliamentarian when it was deliberated at the Westminster Hall on Monday evening.
All chamber members spoke across ideological divides to condemn the U.K. Government for standing neutral while the Nigerian government violated young protesters.
Citing the shootings at Lekki, Oyigbo, Delta as well as the unjust victimization of protesters after the protest and the freezing of protesters accounts, parliamentarians described President Buhari’s regime as nothing short of a dictatorship.
A consensus was reached where chamber members agreed that state actors and their family members should not have access to freedom, liberty, and the security they deny Nigerians in the UK.