Abuja, Nigeria – Barely two years after the October 20, 2020 attack, commonly known at 10/20 EndSarsLekkiGateMasaacre, coordinated military attacks carried out against civilian protesters in Lagos – Nigeria, the then Director of Information at the Nigerian Defence Headquarters, Maj. Gen. John Enenche (retd.), has explained why he denied the video footages and photos of the military shootings and killing of civilian protesters at Lekki Toll Gate, Lagos.
On October 20, 2020 military troops opened fire on protesters, who had converged at a tollgate in the commercial city of Lagos to protest against police brutality.
The incident triggered a global outrage, with calls for justice echoing from different parts of the world.
It was gathered that before the shooting started, some officials uninstalled Closed-Circuit Television cameras in the area.
The electricity at the protest area was also disconnected to prevent demonstrators from filming the attack. Minutes later, heavily armed Nigerian Army troops moved to the scene and opener fire. By the time sounds of their guns died down, dozens of protesters had been killed, many accounts have said.
Though the state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu swiftly blamed “forces beyond our control” for the attack, the army in a statement later revealed that the soldiers were invited to the scene of protest by the governor.
The day after the incident, Enenche while speaking to Arise TV claimed the Instagram live footage of popular Nigerian disc jockey, Obianuju Catherine Udeh, better known as DJ Switch, was fake. He also denied the presence of soldiers at the Lekki Tollgate.
“These videos were cropped and photoshopped. If not that I am not permitted I would have forwarded it to you. Up till this morning, I got analyst to analyse the video and they said it was cropped and put together,” the retired military officer had said.
Yearly two years after, on Friday October 14, 2022, Enenche, made a U-turn claiming that his actions as former military spokesman was guided by “overriding interest of Nigerians at heart based on the oath of allegiance I swore on commission into military service.”
In the build-up of 2023 general election in Nigeria, the Labour Party had on Wednesday named the retired military officer as a member of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign Organisation, which generated backlashes.
Following calls for his removal from Labour Party presidential campaign council, General Enenche sought to clarify his action in denying the shooting during his time as Director of Defence Information.
Enenche said, “Following my appointment on the campaign council of Labour Party, there were reactions on the social media about my pronouncement concerning a video shot at the scene of the ENDARS incident at Lekki toll gate on 20 October 2020.
“Every one that commented in any way was right based on the information at their disposal and individual analysis. Personally and professionally, I worked with the overriding interest of Nigerians at heart based on the oath of allegiance I swore on commission into military service which is sacrosanct. I sincerely shared in the pains of that breaking news through the social media as it were.
“I made bold to openly and objectively support the candidature of HE Mr Peter Obi and Dr Yusuf Ahmed-Datti without fear or contraction. All based on my knowledge of the duo for about 17 years and 5 years respectively, that they can provide quality leadership for the Nation that will guarantee effective followership.”
Though the Labour Party had said it would review the campaign council list, it gave no clarification on whether Enenche would be taken off the list or retained.