Tinubu’s reaction to #Lekkitollgate shooting: 3 things you need to know

Tinubu’s reaction to #lekkitollgate shooting aired Wednesday morning

Several allegations have been made against former Lagos State Governor Senator Bola Tinubu concerning the attacks on peaceful, unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate on Tuesday.

The former Governor, who is a leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC has been accused, among other things, of ordering the attack in order to show his loyalty to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Tinubu granted an interview to Channels TV’s Olu Philips and below are three things we learned from his defence.

1. HE IS NOT INVOLVED IN TUESDAY’S SHOOTING: Senator Tinubu denied any involvement in the shooting of the #EndSARS protesters.

“I will never be part of any carnage. The use of live ammunition (against the protesters) is condemnable in totality,” Tinubu said.

In Tinubu’s reaction to #lekkitollgate shooting aired Wednesday morning, he vehemently denied that he ordered the shooting, saying, “There is a limitation here, I can only control my personal security guards.”

Read also, Lagos suspends all official activities for 3 days, denies any fatalities in Lekki toll shooting

He maintained that he was “extremely shocked” when he heard about the shooting and that he was ready to “complain to the highest level”.

“There are other means of settling or dispersing protest. Why would they use live bullets? There are rubber bullets,” Mr Tinubu said.

2. HE DOES NOT OWN THE LEKKI TOLL GATE: Contrary to decade-long belief, Senator Tinubu does not have any business interest in the ever-busy, lucrative Lekki Toll Gate, which is operated by the Lekki Concession Company.

He stated during the interview that all he knew was that the Lekki toll gate was a product of a Public-Private Partnership, PPP between a privately-held company and the Lagos State Government and that he did not know anyone from the privately held company.

3. THE GOVERNMENT WAS SLOW TO MEET #EndSARS PROTESTERS’ DEMANDS

Meanwhile, Tinubu acknowledged that the government has been slow in bringing to justice officers of SARS whose unlawful actions caused the protests in the first place.

He also said he did not believe President Muhammadu Buhari authorised the shooting.

“I am not even sure yet (that) they are Nigerian army, I am not sure how well the uniforms of the army are controlled. But that is not as critical as the bloodshed that has occurred,” he said.

Mr Tinubu, who described himself as an “unapologetic protester”, appealed for calm. He said he was ready to “face all inquiries” over the incident.

President Buhari is yet to address the nation over the incident.

“We have lost our sleep, we have lost our peace of mind, (and) we just have to deal with it,” Mr Tinubu added.