Nigerian Army has revealed the reason behind its initial denial of deploying military officers to the Lekki toll gate.
Following the report of extra-judicial killings of unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate on Oct 20, the Nigerian Army has received a heavy backlash from Nigerians and foreign citizens.
Reacting to the report, the Army issued a statement denying their presence at the unfortunate incident.
Few days later, the Army retracted the denial, saying it only honoured the invitation of Lagos state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu who called for help to restore calm to the state amid EndSARS protests.
Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry last week summoned the Nigerian Army for questioning about the extra-judicial killings.
Appearing before the Panel of Inquiry, Brigadier-General AI Taiwo, the Commander 81 of the Military Intelligence Brigade disclosed soldiers were truly at the toll gate but did not open live rounds on protesters.
When asked why the Army initially denied being there, Brigadier-General Taiwo said the military intelligence did not have the full facts of the incident as at the time of the report.
He said;
‘The first statement was born out of the fact that we did not have the facts available to us and the second was because nobody was sent to the Lekki tollgate to breakup any protest” he said