Salimonu's mastery of the scope of the English language and his quality of logic continue to amaze me.
The term ''men in military uniforms'' and ''security agents'' have no correlation, even though the governor of Lagos state has admitted the army was at the scene and the army itself has at last confirmed that not only were they there, they were sent by the Lagos state governor.
A person giving a report should stick with one description, not mixing '' ''men in military uniforms'' and ''security agents''' since who is to say if other ''men in military uniforms'' were not at the scene at the same time as the soldiers?
A person giving a report should stick with one description, not mixing '' ''men in military uniforms'' and ''security agents''' since who is to say if other ''men in military uniforms'' were not at the scene at the same time as the soldiers?
Premium Times has interviewed people described as eyewitnesses and given pictures and videos of those self described eyewitnesses, along with the bullets they say they recovered from the scene.
Not good enough.
They should also have interviewed the ambulances that supposedly came into help.
The evidence of those who say they witnessed the shooting and who describe themselves as helping those being attacked escape is of no value, since those who may not not have witnessed the shooting but were described as coming in to assist after it was done were not interviewed, their testimony being particularly vital as medical professionals.
And if and when when those medical teams are interviewed, we should take time to ask how they were sure any injured or dead protesters they claim they saw did not die or sustain injuries from a stampede after the men in uniform shot into the air.
If they respond by stating that they identified gunshot wounds on the bodies of the dead and wounded, it wont be out of place to ask if the protesters had injured or killed each other in trying to shoot back at the soldiers and being inexperienced in the use of firearms, could not use the guns well.
After all, did we not observe the other day that Farooq Kperoqi's rhetoric suggested that he was urging the protesters to either arm themselves or indicated his knowledge that they had arms, hence stating they would crush anything in their part?
Even though it may be stated that Farooq was referring to crushing in terms of the irresistible power of civil disobedience, through a seemingly peaceful and carnivalesque demonstration leading us to earlier describe their jamboree as more entertainment than anything else as they played music, ate and danced, who knows if some of them read Farooq's column and inspired by it, armed themselves to achieve a crushing by force?
The army kept on denying that it was at the scene only to be compelled to admit it was. Good of them so as not to give miscreants a chance to misread their presence there.
Some might say that their dishonesty casts doubt on whatever they may say going forward, like the governor's dishonesty in stating forces beyond his control initiated the massacre, yet the soldiers eventually admitted they were at the scene at his command, even though at the same time as as 'unknown ''men in military uniform'' are shown in videos shooting at the protesters.
Does anyone genuinely think that an army still struggling to subdue Boko Haram even after four years of the Buhari Presidency who came into power on the platform of crushing the terrorist group, an army that makes a point of hardly engaging Fulani herdsmen's militia terrorism, will occupy themselves with attacking unarmed protesters, even after the army head's declaration of readiness to use the army in supporting the govt agst the protesters, a declaration better seen as an effort to frighten the protesters than anything else?
A true patriot should realize that govt always means well, so we should await the govt's CCTV evidence which will contain nothing but the truth.
After all, would they step so low as to either doctor or manufacture evidence in an issue of this magnitude?
Federal minister Fashola's discovery of a camera at the protest scene days after the place had been swept clean has spawned a genre of film comedy, links to which I will post here later.
But those comics are noisemakers maligning no less a person that a SAN, a holder of Nigeria's highest legal title and ex-governor of Lagos State, depicting his camera discovery as suspiciously providential and foolishly crafty in a situation in which the attempt to construct a false reality by twisting facts is the central govt strategy.
Conspiracy theorists.
You claim to be a peaceful protester yet you are flouting a curfew.
Its true that civil disobedience is described as a form of peaceful protest, but is it not really a form of violence, of violence agst the state?
How can you peacefully break a law or oppose the state?
In opposing the state, you are already engaged in violence because you are disrupting the fabric of order by which the nation runs.
Therefore, the idea of peaceful protest agst the state is an oxymoron.
In addition, even though it was stated that the curfew was moved from 4pm to 9pm and the shooting by the men in military uniforms- impersonators of the army for all we know, if any such men were there at all- started shooting hours before that, what were the protesters still doing at the protest ground after the curfew was announced?
Should they not have been dispersing or have dispersed so as to be home before the curfew commenced?
We may agree, therefore, that they did not plan to obey the curfew, thereby placing themselves at risk.
The reporters state the dead body in the lagoon alerted them to the possibility that it was that of one of the protesters, leading them to interview those people living in the area, leading to those people telling their stories of what is being described as a massacre.
Even then, the more important issue is the dead body, not the eyewitness reports of the villagers whose ideological orientations are unknown and whose testimony is therefore doubtful.
Why not focus on finding out why and how that person was in the water and leave alone such wild speculation as to the belief it was or likely to be a victim of shooting by men in uniform, since if any shooting was done remains in doubt in spite of videos supposedly conforming this shooting and various eyewitnesses claiming to validate that story?
Anti-govt conspirators everywhere.
thanks
toyin
On Sun, 1 Nov 2020 at 16:25, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:
--Femi Segun, let us hope that we are not being fed with fake, manipulated and Nollywood pictures. While every sane person should support the call for an international investigation team to unravel what happened at Lekki Tollgate on 20 October 2020, I think one should impose reason over impulse so as not to pre-empt the results of subsequent international investigations. From the Premium Times purported investigations I am yet to detect a compelling evidence of what actually happened at Lekki tollgate, at the night in question. The Premium Times investigators stated, "At about 6 : 45 p. m., on October 20, (2020) men in military uniform arrived at the Lekki Toll Gate, in Lagos, in three Toyota Hilux Vans and almost immediately began shooting into a crowd of peaceful protesters gathered there waving the Nigerian green-and-white flag and reciting National Anthem." My question to the expression, "men in military uniform" is, is it possible for people to dress in military uniform in Nigeria without belonging to the Nigerian Army? Premium Times investigators, as it appears had no evidence that the shooters were from the Nigerian Army which was why the crowd attackers were identified as "men in military uniform."
She (D.J. Switch), Premium Times investigators reported, "said the military (men) initially prevented first responders and ambulances from reaching the injured but later allowed them through." She said, "she saw at least 15 corpses and claimed that the security agents took the bodies away." The Premium Times never took initiative to contact any of the first responders and ambulances who were said to have been there to corroborate D.J. Switch's statement. Contrary to previous Premium Times publication, that D. J. Switch handed over victims shot dead to soldiers that took them away, she now claims to have seen at least 15 corpses that the security agents (not soldiers) took away.
Referring to the Amnesty International Report of 21 October 2020, the Premium Times Investigator stated : At least 12 people were killed at Alausa and Lekki Toll Gate Lagos (2 at Alausa and 10 at Lekki Toll Gate); Hundreds severely injured and the CCTVs were dismantled to cover the murder. Again, one is being fed with guessed number of deaths, in particular, at the Tollgate. Citing from the report of Amnesty International, the Premium Times wrote, "Evidence gathered from eyewitnesses, video footages and hospital reports confirm that between 6:45 p.m. and 9 : 00p.m., on Tuesday, 20 October (2020), the Nigerian military opened fire on thousands of people who were peacefully calling for good governance and an end to police brutality." Following the AI's report, the Nigerian military was engaged in shooting at thousands of people for two hours and fifteen minutes. If this were true and correct, real dead casualties then should have been in hundreds and not as being guessed to be at least 10 or 15!!! Besides that, I wonder what kind of peaceful demonstrators would flout dusk to dawn curfew declared by the government of Lagos State. The Governor of Lagos, Sanwo-Olu, has since confirmed that the CCTVs were intact and that they would be submitted to the investigating panel on Lekki incident.
A human body was found floating in the lagoon not far from Lekki and one of the Premium Times investigators, "Mr. Adeoyo said nearby residents suspected that the floating body could be one of the protesters fired upon by soldiers and alleged by witnesses to have been carried. A google map coordinate he sent indicated that the body was floating close to Bay Lounge, an upscale restaurant." No one was humane enough to pick the floating dead man from the lagoon not to talk of confirming if he had bullet holes in any part of his decaying body. Yet, it was being speculated that he might have been a demonstrator shot by soldiers. What of if the floating body belonged to a visitor to the upscale restaurant, Bay Lounge, who was drunk on alcohol and fell into the lagoon to drown, or if he was a victim of some criminals resident at the nearby shanty? It is horrific to see a floating dead human body on the lagoon, but the greatest horror as I see it is to attribute his death to soldiers without evidence.S. Kadiri
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Femi Segun <soloruntoba@gmail.com>
Sent: 31 October 2020 15:33
To: 'Chika Onyeani' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - MUST READ AND WE MUST ALL ACT RIGHT AWAYDespite these horrific pictures and eyewitnesses accounts, there are people who will still deny that people were killed during the attacks. Many consciences have been seared with iron. Our humanity has been discounted to the extent that nothing that doesn't affect us directly matters again. Instead of rage, we have settled for semantics. In Lagos with a population of over 15 million people, where many citizens have given up on the government, regime apologists are here telling us nobody died because nobody has come out to say somebody died Cry. my beloved country.
--On Sat, Oct 31, 2020 at 7:47 AM Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
--Read below: we must call for an international investigation team, demand the resignation of the Buhari government, and send some army officers and police to The International Court of Justice for prosecution.
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