Some time after midnight on October 21, Elisa Sunday Ibanga answer a phone call from his brother’s number.
The person at the other end of the line – the foreigners – broke the news that this Ibanga brother, Victor, had been shot dead at the toll gate Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria, where he had been peacefully protesting police brutality earlier that night.
An eyewitness to the death of Victor told CNN Sunday Ibanga 27-year businessman shot in the head during the protests.
CNN has obtained and geolocated photos of Victor’s body lying in a pool of blood and wrapped in white and green of Nigerian standards – one of the same flag gripped by fellow demonstrators earlier in the evening when they sing the national anthem of the country. Ibanga confirmed the photo is his brother.
The Ibangas is one of the few families have yet to find the bodies of their loved ones are missing – protesters at toll booths – which dozens of witnesses said the fire, first by members of the Nigerian army and then hours later by police. Witnesses told CNN they saw soldiers removing some bodies from the scene.
What happened on October 20, and into the early hours of October 21, at eight-lane toll gate Lekki – a key part of the road network Lagos’ – has shocked the country.
The protesters were present had told CNN it was a “massacre” by several people dead and dozens injured. But local authorities have underestimated the account.
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, admitted to CNN that the tape shows uniformed soldiers opened fire on peaceful protesters but claimed only two demonstrators were killed. But he later said there was “no blood scratches” at toll booths when she visited. The governor said there was no family has approached the authorities say they lost relatives.
Immediately after the shooting, the army denied involvement, describing the reports of the incident as “false news,” before retreating and saying that soldiers were present but firing their guns in the air and the empty former, not bullets.
CNN calls for Nigerian soldiers have not been returned. But on November 14, during a judicial investigation into the shooting, military representatives Brigadier Ahmed Taiwo said, “There is no way of officers and soldiers will kill their brothers. I repeat do not. We have people who are constantly trying to create divisions between us and between citizens of Nigeria … “
The army also said in court that it is the governor who called soldiers to the scene because the police were overrun. Governor denies this, saying he does not have the authority to call in the army. Soldiers kept reiterating that they do not fire bullets.
But an investigation by CNN in the disputed events have cast doubt on the authority of shifting and changing statements.
Proof shell casings from the scene match the ones used by Nigerian troops when shooting bullets, according to military officials and former Nigeria. video recordings verified – using the time stamp and the data of the video file – showed soldiers who seemed to be shooting on demonstrators. And accounts from witnesses established that after the army withdrew, the second round of shootings occurred later in the evening.
Since Elisa Sunday Ibanga learned of his brother’s death, he had visited the hospital in a desperate search for his remains.
“My mother, my brother, all my family in prayer, just to see if we can find out and know where the body of my brother is,” he said.
The bodies of other protesters nowhere to be found.
Peace Okon, 24, have not seen her sister Wisdom, 18, since he went to protest the night of the shooting.
“He had just returned from work on Tuesday, eat food and go there,” Okon told CNN.
He began to worry when he did not come home that night. On the next day, Okon was out looking for him. “I’ve been going to the hospital, I went to the police station, I go everywhere. I can not find him,” he said.
His sister just moved to Lagos a few weeks before the protest – Okon has helped him find a job as a cleaner at the bank. He said he did not know anyone in the protest and had never been to one before.
Okon said he wanted the authorities of Nigeria to tell her if her sister is still alive and detained or dead.
The shooting followed weeks Lekki tollgate “#EndSARS” protests against police brutality that have exploded onto the streets of cities across Nigeria.
For nearly two weeks, thousands of young Nigerian mostly under 30 – the demographic that make up 40% of the country’s population – protests, with calls for an end to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, police units widely and repeatedly accused of kidnapping, harassment and extortion.
Police have agreed to disband the controversial unit, but the protests continued. This will be the fourth time it was dissolved.
There were peaceful marches, candlelight vigils, multi-faith prayer session and DJ performances that attract the support and solidarity of celebrities, Nigerian diaspora and supporters around the world. This movement quickly widened surpassed for other complaints of police brutality – captures the frustration of young people demanding an end to bad government in the oil-rich country.
Read also: “We only fired blank bullets containing gunpowder at Lekki toll gate”- Nigerian Army
He began to worry when he did not come home that night. On the next day, Okon was out looking for him. “I’ve been going to the hospital, I went to the police station, I go everywhere. I can not find him,” he said.
His sister just moved to Lagos a few weeks before the protest – Okon has helped him find a job as a cleaner at the bank. He said he did not know anyone in the protest and had never been to one before.
Okon said he wanted the authorities of Nigeria to tell her if her sister is still alive and detained or dead.
The shooting followed weeks Lekki tollgate “#EndSARS” protests against police brutality that have exploded onto the streets of cities across Nigeria.
For nearly two weeks, thousands of young Nigerian mostly under 30 – the demographic that make up 40% of the country’s population – protests, with calls for an end to Special Anti-Robbery Squad, police units widely and repeatedly accused of kidnapping, harassment and extortion.
Police have agreed to disband the controversial unit, but the protests continued. This will be the fourth time it was dissolved.
There were peaceful marches, candlelight vigils, multi-faith prayer session and DJ performances that attract the support and solidarity of celebrities, Nigerian diaspora and supporters around the world. This movement quickly widened surpassed for other complaints of police brutality – captures the frustration of young people demanding an end to bad government in the oil-rich country.
Lekki, relatively affluent outskirts of Lagos, and toll gates become the focal point of the movement.
However, about 10 days to protest, the demonstration was hijacked by “goons and thugs sponsored” who attacked demonstrators, causing deaths and injuries, according to Amnesty International Nigeria.
In response, on October 20, hours before the shooting, the Governor-Olu Sanwo impose a strict curfew from 4:00 following the looting and vandalism in other parts of the country.
He then moved to 9:00 to allow passengers to return. The timeline for when the curfew has been a point of contention between the governor and the military. The army said its soldiers are not aware of the change to a later time, according to army spokesman testimony to the judicial panel of eight people on 14 November.
For 24 hours, it’s just important service providers should be allowed on the streets of a strong 20-million.
Testimony from dozens of witnesses and family members interviewed by CNN and forensic examinations of hours of video and dozens of photos taken before, during and after the incident the two shootings show how a movement of young protest was all but extinguished by the very thing Nigeria demonstrating against.
Less than three hours after the original start time curfew in force, army trucks left the barracks Bonny Camp, Victoria Island and heading to the toll gate plaza and protesters, according to the video reviewed by CNN.
Two witnesses told CNN they saw soldiers arrive in a Toyota Hilux pickup truck with “OP Awatse” written on it – the name of a joint military task force operating in Lagos State.
Video vetted by CNN showed army trucks approached the demonstrators from both sides of the toll gate – barricading them in.
DJ Switch, a local musician whose real name is Catherine Obianuju udeh, the live streaming on Instagram when it all happened and the shooting started.
The shooting began immediately, with no warning given. Panic ensued as the demonstrators tried to flee.
“There was a man who was walking, and he just … he fell, and we looked at him. He was shot in the back,” DJ Switch, 29, told CNN as he tried to speak during the interview, crying.
“Please explain to me how, in the world, you go to the protests with live ammunition,” he said.
From some video, CNN has put together a timeline indicates that the shooting by soldiers takes place from 06:43 until at least 08:24, according to video evidence.
Video capture some of them 101 minutes to tell the story of terror and chaos. They show a graphic injury and bleeding on the ground.
One eyewitness, Sarah, whose name we do not publish for her safety, told CNN that the soldiers fired in the air but also directly at protesters.
“They aimed their guns at us and they started shooting,” he said. “They shot in the air, they shoot at us, they shot everywhere.”
Some chanted: “We are peaceful protesters” and “End Sars, we do not go gree [pidgin for we do not agree, or give up].”
“They shoot, they shot were,” others scream in one video. Cries of “Na lie, na lie [exclamation distrust in pidgin]” could also be heard.
In some videos, reviewed and verified by CNN, some protesters could be seen carrying the body, flashlight on their mobile phones the only thing illuminating the darkness as the sound of ambulance sirens in the background. It is not known if this is the demonstrators were killed or wounded.
On the other hand, there are several people were injured, some on the ground bleeding while protesters continued waving rebel flags Nigeria.
Injured people who CNN has confirmed has been present at the toll gate began to arrive at the local hospital – carried out by civilians – from 19:19 while the shooting was still ongoing, according to analyzed video with CNN.
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