Reported By Mary Udezue | Edited by: Gabriel Osa
Abuja — As Nigeria marks five years since the nationwide #EndSARS protests, former Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed has once again reiterated his long-standing position that no protesters were killed at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on October 20, 2020, a claim that continues to stir controversy and debate across political and civil society circles.
In an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, Mohammed maintained that while lives were lost during the broader #EndSARS protests, no deaths occurred specifically at the Lekki Toll Gate where soldiers were deployed. He argued that the federal government did not deny fatalities from the protests overall, but that assertions of a “massacre” at the toll gate were inaccurate. Mohammed claimed that soldiers present at the scene were issued blank ammunition and that no families have come forward in the five years since to report a loved one missing from the toll gate incident. “Five years later, my position has not changed… nobody was killed at the toll gate,” he said.
Mohammed’s comments came as he promoted his new book, Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined an Administration, in which he recounts his version of the events surrounding the 2020 protests and seeks to challenge narratives he describes as “misinformation”. He urged Nigerians to view the Lekki Toll Gate episode through what he described as “logic and evidence”, asserting that the absence of verifiable casualty claims directly tied to the toll gate undermines reports of a massacre.
Despite these assertions, the Lekki Toll Gate incident remains one of the most contested and emotionally charged episodes of the #EndSARS movement, which began in October 2020 as mass protests against police brutality and the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Though the protests drew widespread support and led to SARS being disbanded, the events of October 20, 2020 — when security forces confronted demonstrators at the Lekki Toll Gate — have been interpreted and memorialised very differently by various stakeholders.
Reports from human rights organisations and investigative bodies contradict Mohammed’s position. The Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, established to investigate the toll gate incident and other complaints of police brutality, described the night’s events in terms that many interpreted as indicative of lethal force being used against protesters, findings that have been widely cited by advocacy groups demanding accountability. Independent human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have also reported that security forces fired on unarmed protesters and that fatalities occurred at Lekki and other locations during the protests.
The lack of a unified account has kept the Lekki Toll Gate narrative at the centre of Nigeria’s political discourse. Supporters of the #EndSARS movement and many civil society actors continue to commemorate the anniversary of the toll gate shooting as a tragic moment in Nigeria’s struggle against police misconduct and state violence. For them, conflicting statements from government officials, including Mohammed, are seen as part of an ongoing struggle over truth, memory, and accountability.
Meanwhile, Mohammed has criticised international media coverage of the incident, particularly a widely publicised report by global news organisations, labelling such reports as based on “second-hand information” and mischaracterisations of the events that unfolded. He challenged outlets like CNN, asserting that they were not present at the scene and therefore could not authoritatively determine what transpired at the toll gate that night.
Critics of Mohammed’s remarks argue that multiple forms of evidence — including eyewitness testimonies, video footage captured by protesters and journalists, and submissions to judicial panels — indicate that Nigerian Army personnel fired live ammunition at protesters at Lekki, resulting in casualties. They contend that the government’s narrative downplaying the event as a “massacre without bodies” has delayed justice for victims and their families.
The debate over what happened at Lekki Toll Gate five years ago continues to evoke deep emotions across Nigeria’s political and social landscape. For many young Nigerians and #EndSARS activists, the toll gate remains a symbol of state brutality and the urgent need for reforms in policing and governance. For Mohammed and like-minded commentators, reaffirming the official stance is part of challenging what they view as exaggerated accounts and maintaining national cohesion.
As the anniversary passes, both supporters of the #EndSARS legacy and government figures like Mohammed reinforce divergent interpretations of the same historical event — a divergence that reflects broader tensions in how Nigeria remembers its recent past and envisions its future.
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