Lai Mohammed, the former Minister of Information and Culture, has reignited debate over the Lekki Toll Gate shooting with a firm dismissal of any massacre, calling the long-standing allegations a work of fiction during a televised interview with Arise TV. His remarks resurfaced one of the most disputed chapters of the EndSARS protests and stirred strong reactions across public forums.
In the interview, Mohammed admitted that the EndSARS unrest led to deaths in different parts of the country, yet he insisted that the Lekki episode had been grossly misrepresented. He faulted international coverage, singling out CNN for depending on indirect accounts instead of eyewitness evidence. He argued that the absence of families reporting missing relatives after five years weakens every claim of mass casualties at the toll gate.
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“It has been five years, and no one has come forward to say their child went to the toll gate and did not return,” he said, repeating his long-held view that the most dramatic versions of the night’s events were embellished.
The EndSARS movement, which swept through Nigeria in October 2020, rose from public anger against police brutality and the controversial operations of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. The protests brought thousands of young Nigerians to the streets in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, culminating in tense standoffs with security forces. Although violence and destruction were recorded across several states, Mohammed maintained that the specific claims tied to the Lekki Toll Gate had been shaped by misleading reports rather than verifiable evidence.
