Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu
The Lagos State governor says the Lekki shooing came to him as a total shock.
Sanwo-Olu who was on Arise TV morning show said “It was unbelievable to me. The instruction was that police will not be out until around 10 to 11pm. I couldn’t explain who gave the order”.
“Maybe the military got it all wrong”, he said.
Speaking during the interview, he said efforts to talk to Buhari had proved abortive. He noted that he made attempts twice to reach President Muhammadu Buhari.
Sanwo-Olu said the first time he called, the President was not in the office, adding that the second time, he was said to be at the Federal Executive Council meeting.
Lagos has been in turmoil after the #EndSARS protest turned violent with several lives lost in different parts of the state.
The situation came to a climax on Tuesday after soldiers opened fire on protesters at the Lekki toll gate.
While there have been controversies on the number of casualties, Sanwo-Olu denied ordering the soldiers to the protest ground.
He said, “I made phone calls to the President. I made calls twice yesterday (Wednesday). The first time, he hadn’t come to the office and the second time, he was at the FEC meeting.
“So, indeed, I have not spoken to him directly. I actually did call to speak with him. But like I said, he was at the FEC meeting and probably had his briefings.
“He was the one that asked the Chief of Defence Staff to call me and I think it was when he got my message. He (CDS) said to me, that it was the President that asked him to call. I don’t have a report to say. We haven’t spoken.”
The events that started around 7-7:30pm came as a total shock,” Sanwo-Olu said during an interview on ARISE News, as he explained that he got to know from the wife of a cabinet member that called him.
“I don’t know how the officers got it all wrong because the instruction was that police won’t be out until 10-10:30pm when all citizens should have gotten to their various homes,” he continued.
“This is totally against what we stand for.”
The governor said he has taken the incident up with the highest level of the military hierarchy and a judicial panel will be set up to investigate it.
“The army does not report to me, I have reported the matter to the highest command in the military. It’s not something we are going to gloss over. A judicial panel will be set up to investigate it. I have escalated it to the highest level of the military,” he said.
The governor however called on leaders at all level to speak up and put an end to the continued protest.
“Everyone including leaders at all levels need to speak out now for this protest to stop. We need to restrain these youths now to put an end to this. We need to begin a rigorous community engagement and win our trust back, that’s the message we need to preach now,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He explained why he called for a curfew in the first place. “The incidents started Saturday and Sunday. We saw breakdown of law and order and there was mayhem.
“Prior instruction had been given to the police to stand down. We set up a panel and hoped it would assuage the grievances.
“By Tuesday, we had started seeing destruction and attack on police stations, and arms being carted away. It was turning to a complete breakdown of law and order.
