Scores of Nigerian youths including policemen lost their lives in orgies of violence that hallmarked the #EndSARS protests on Tuesday across the country. Lagos recorded most of the harvest of deaths and injuries. More than 50 persons are receiving treatment in different hospitals across the country.
About six #EndSARS protesters at Lekki, Lagos toll plaza were feared killed on a bloody Tuesday night when the unarmed protesters were shot at by a combined team of security personnel made up of the police and the military.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu who arrived at the scene after the blood-letting visited victims of the unfortunate incident scattered at different hospitals where they were being treated. The number of those receiving treatments were 9 in Reddington Hospital, 10 at General Hospital and 4 at Vedic Life Care Hospital. Two of the victims were said to be receiving intensive medical care, while others sustained different degrees of injury.
The Governor had ordered an investigation into the mayhem with a warning to security personnel not to shoot or arrest anybody on account of the curfew.
Witnesses described how the security men attacked the armless protesters who had defied the 24-hour curfew imposed on the state by Governor Sanwo-Olu.
“They first removed the CCTv cameras, then all of a sudden they switched off the light and everywhere was dark. We did not block the road. Some of us were squatting, some were standing. We were not violent. Then boom, gunshots towards us and into the air. There was pandemonium and blood was everywhere. Military men were involved. Some of us picked up spent bullets. They were live bullets, not rubber. They came to kill us like animals,” yelled Ade Owolabi, one of the protesters who bore blood marks on his shirt. He participated in evacuating the injured.
In Mushin area, about 17 persons were felled by police bullets fired at the protesters men of the Mushin Divisional Police.
Another five persons including two policemen were killed in Orile Iganmu when police tried to repel hoodlums who set the Orile Police Station ablaze.
In Fagba, Iju area of the state, some hoodlums were seen breaking into shops and looting . Neighbours and passersby captured the looting on video which showed some of the hoodlums armed with dangerous weapons.
A phone shop was broken into and some of the crooks were seen hauling phones out of the shop
The Lagos State Government had on Tuesday imposed a 24-hour curfew on all parts of the state from 4pm Tuesday, as the peaceful #EndSARS protest turned violent.
The Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said during a media briefing at Lagos House, Marina, that nobody, except essential service providers and first responders must be found on the streets.
