“Our parents’ generation carried the past memorialized in paint, porcelain, and wood; we cast it off. Even our national history is remembered in terms of the worst we did, not the best.”
― P.D. James, The Lighthouse
20-10-20
The Lekki Toll gate shooting a.k.a. The Lekki Massacre!
The day started as usual, vigor building, hopes still raised, more vibrant youths still taking to the streets, even though so many protest ground have been infiltrated by the so called “thugs” and “hoodlums” inciting violence and we even heard of “ProSARS” group holding a counter campaign in some parts of the country, causing unrest and wreaking havoc in different parts of the nation. Still, we the Nigerian youths peacefully protesting were still standing, hoping our government will answer us and do something to safe our nation, save its youths and save its future… alas, we were wrong … derails.
The medic team created to cater and care for protesters were up and running, strategizing on every way to remain peaceful, deliver the basic best care, mobilizing and distributing medical supplies and services while looking out for each other and ensuring every protest location is covered and secured. By past 10am to 11am presence of thugs in Alausa (Ikeja) and Zaria (Kaduna) were already alarming, not forgetting that the threats kept coming, by around 12pm, we were already receiving the news of police stations being burnt and suddenly, our peaceful protest – before our very own eyes – had been hijacked by thugs and hoodlums (still either politically or self-sponsored, but were never part of the peaceful protesters) and turned into a “riot”, “jail breaks”, “police stations burnt” and anarchy.
And in all of these, our dear president was also mute on us, not a word, not an appearance, and this dug out the different speculations that Our Dear President has been dead since 2017, with several articles and analyses popping up here and there (the alleged AU Summit one minute silence on 23 Feb 2017, Eric Joyce tweet at 2.08pm 19 May 2017, Nnamdi Kanu’s analyses, Aisha and Zahra Buhari statements and many more), while other politicians were wielding powers and toying with the Nigerian citizens sanity and lives as they wanted. Also, the amount of money being made at the Lekki tollgate daily was revealed by the revenue loss statement of about 234Million Naira in 11days due to the protest action at the tollgate. This revelation angered the youths more, wondering how much money was being made at the tollgate alone annually, what was being done with so much money and why we are still in so much debt as a nation.
At about 11:49pm, the government of Lagos state announced, a statewide curfew to curb the ongoing unrest caused by the thugs, hoodlums and police raising opposition and resistance to the peaceful #ENDSARS protest. By 12pm, we (the medic team) started strategizing to get to safety before the curfew starts by 4pm, and even with our IDs were made scapegoats and sacrificial lamb as everywhere in Lagos was on standstill due to traffic. Everyone trying to get home, peaceful protest or thugs/hoodlums action blocking the roads, creating scenes and extorting people… Abule-egba, Apapa, Alausa, Mushin, Surulere was chaotic, with shootings and death by self or politically sponsored thugs to hijack our peaceful protest. This we knew while our leaders and “security force” stood by to watch us burn. Between the time the curfew was announced and mid afternoon of the 20th, we had collectively lost over 5 people (peaceful protesters and thugs across Lagos alone) to the chaos, ranging from machet cuts to knife stabs and gun shots.
One of us leaving the protest venue from Alausa, returning home was arrested along Alagbole-Ajuwon road, which they initially denied arresting her (as they did many others) but was later released due to noise from different angles and escalation of the case. Abuja was bloody as well, people bleeding out, medics been beaten and harassed with their phone stolen. In all of these, our medics were still running around to get ambulances, blood donation, minor and major surgeries sorted out to save the lives of both peaceful #EndSars protesters, self and politically-sponsored violent thugs/hoodlums including #ProSARS protesters, as we “Hippocratic-ally” swore and have always done, regardless.
Initially, the announcement of the curfew sent panic across board, and our medic at Lekki sent home the ambulances at the protest ground there to obey the curfew but the youths determined now more than ever still insisted on their peaceful #EndSARS protest despite the curfew (which was later moved to take effect from 9pm) by continually trooping in, sitting on the floor, holding hands, waving their flags and singing the national anthem at the Lekki tollgate.
Then, the process starts to unfold. First, at around 5pm, cameras at the tollgate where seen to be taking down. When it started becoming dark, around 6pm the lights in and around the tollgate, including billboards and streets light also went off. For sure, we knew something was about to happen, but never did we think in our wildest dreams it would be as horrific as it turned out to be. Then military drove in, and around 6.30pm the shootings started and by 6:57pm we got the alert that they had started shooting. They waited till it was dark and hid under the guise of the night to wrath their evil deeds.
Then, we remobilized and started sending ambulances back for medical help – seeing people shot and dying. Also, via live Instagram videos being made from the venue, some of us started directing on what to do, seeing as they were removing bullets from injured people and lost another peaceful protester right there. We also started mobilizing to take them to hospital around the island with our medics on ground to receive the wounded. After so many pleas, the first ambulance made it there at about past 8pm, this over 2 hours of shooting at unarmed peaceful protesters, with various threats, and not allowing ambulances through the “military barricade” and “fire burning” from both entries to the tollgate to help the injured. Concurrently, we started mobilizing for blood units and fluids for resuscitation.
And in all of these, no Nigerian TV station was reporting the incident live.
More ambulances were able to get through around 11pm, and at some point, shootings were heard around the hospitals taking in the injured (front of Farmcity, opposite Reddington hospital Lekki). Probably a tactics to hunt down the ones saved, hospitals receiving them started stabilizing and referring to other institutions (Reddington hospital VI and LUTH inclusive) to save as many as we could. And around 2am, we got the alert of “men in military uniforms and vans” going into hospital to claim bodies from the toll gate shooting. Why they did that, we didn’t know at first. All through the night, up till 3am, we were still up and running, also trying to get an ambulance to Ikota for 2 cases of gunshot injuries (status unknown) this also got hindered by news of hoodlums on the way.
By 8am (now 21/10/2020), we started dealing with issues of people losing their minds, hearing gunshots in their head and reliving the gory images of all that happened over night at the Lekki tollgate. By 8.30am, we were dealing with mobilizing blood donor for the blood bank at LUTH, collection and distribution of the blood pints by Lifebank delivery guys and covering the medical bills of the unarmed peaceful protesters shot at Lekki, while we kept arranging for other bed spaces and getting feedbacks on those admitted in other places.
In all of these, there was continuous reports of gunshot at Obanikoro, Surulere, Lagos Island, Yaba, Ebute-metta, Agbara, Onipanu, Shomolu, Igbobi – Lagos was in chaos! While on the other hand in Abuja, they were still waxing strong and taking the streets to peacefully protest at the American embassy, despite the oppositions they have had over the past 2 bloody days. Our Medic in Abuja was particularly overwhelmed, as she was sleeping over at the hospital to ensure that the people that survived were taken care of, and did a blood drive that produced up to 20 unit of blood for the wounded.
Despite the challenges of safety, getting ambulances to different location for donors, people been restricted from moving and leaving their homes due to fear, we got over 50 people from different locations to donate blood. These locations included – Festac, Alimosho, Okota, Ilupeju, Akowonjo, Egbeda, Iyana Ejigbo, Mushin, Pipeline Idimu, command Ipaja, Ojota. By about 12pm, we were dealing with ambulances been turned back from picking up blood by policemen and a Lifebank driver been shot at. By 1pm, LUTH blood bank – for the first time in a long time – declared they had a full storage with about 82 unit of blood donated.
By almost 11am, still on the 21st of October, 2020, our governor, his excellency Sanwoolu Babajide came out to tell the world on national TV that there were no fatality or death and at about 1pm, said “the ministry of health worked through the night to monitor and provide support for injured protesters”. This was such a slap to the faces and riding off on the labour, pain and glory of the protest medic team that actually stayed up all night, while “powers and people in high places” ensured there was no emergency services promptly available to the victims of the Lekki massacre. Still we were not dismayed, we continued to create innovative ways of keeping the survivors alive, even if ambulances and delivery bikes were hindered, we thought of bleeding and screening donors of chronic diseases on the move, getting drones to deliver blood and medical supplies to wherever they were needed.
By 2pm, we were still mobilizing ambulances to transport victims to health facilities and save more lives. Also medics from National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi started calling out for blood donors, Reddington hospital on Admiralty way in Lekki also called out for blood donation, blood bags including medical consumables, because they were overwhelmed with victims of gunshot from unarmed #EndSARS Protesters massacred in Lagos. By 6.30pm, past 7pm, LASUTH Medics also stated making calls to get blood donors, as they were in dire need for patients. Up until 7pm, we were still getting cases of gunshot injuries and demise of some of those patients, albeit in other part of Lagos. By now, we were trending #BlackTuesdayNigeria it was indeed a gory day, a day we would never forget. Still, our president said nothing, our politicians and authorities (that should offer an explanation for the series of events that has happened and was happening kept contrasting and denying it never happened).
Another medic said, “Suddenly I wake up from a short nap – as none of us has been able to sleep at night since the massacre – screaming, so those people just died like that?“. No one to hold accountable! Every authority involved in the operation of the toll gate, military and police denied their role in the massacre, military even said they were never there. Despite the live video evidences, bodies ridden with bullets, shells of military bullets picked by survivors, video footage from phones, drones and satellite, ambulances bringing in BIDs and gunshot patients from the venue, ambulances being stopped from getting to the scene (some where even threatened with guns and sent back empty to GH Lagos), the blood drives for blood banks across Lagos, hospitals overwhelmed with gunshot cases, the medical records, the medical staff attending to them, the bodies in the morgue, they still lied to our faces and sold the lies to the gullible public. The audacity!
By the end of 21/10/2020, “powerless, emotionless, mentally and physically drained, feelings of deep hurt and almost totally hopeless, continuous and intermittent weeping, sleeplessness from nightmares and flashes of the gory images from the massacre forever burnt into our memories, blankly staring at lifeless bodies from gunshot injuries on our hospital beds, floors and ambulances”… these and more was how medics – who came together to care and save the lives of protesters – were feeling in and out of Lagos, Nigeria.
…to be continued
PS: THIS IS NOT FICTION.
These are true life events and accounts from private conversations (via chats and phone), field participations, health facilities personnel and first hand contributions from the protest medic group (cc @endsarshealth on Twitter).
“Be strong. Even when you can’t be.”
― Saim .A. Cheeda
Incase you missed the first part, click https://kemisolaagoyi1.wordpress.com/2020/10/23/memoirs-of-frontliners-at-the-peaceful-endsars-protest-1/ to read it up.
KemK The Great 