President Muhammad Buhari has been asked to sack and prosecute his minister of information and Culture, Lai Muhammad.
The call was made by the Human Rights Writer Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), in reactions to the reports of the Lagos Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up to look into the October 20 2020 Lekki Tollgate massacre.
Recall that the panel had on Monday November 15, presented their report to Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, indicting that the men of the Nigerian Army and Nigeria Police force were responsible for the shooting of harmless protesters at Lekki Tollgate.
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But the minister, in a series of press conferences has continually denied anyone was killed when soldiers invaded the toll gate and opened fire on unarmed protesters.
HURIWA, in a statement released on Tuesday, November 16, 2021, advocated for the dismissal and prosecution of Lai Muhammad for his false claims that the massacre was a lie.
The statement reads;
“Huriwa is asking President Muhammadu Buhari as a biological father of many well-educated children, to order the arrest and prosecution of his minister of information Lai Mohammed for committing a grave and heartless offence that is equivalent to the denial of the Holocaust of the 6 million Jews by Adolf Hitler which is punishable by nearly half a century of incarceration.”
HURIWA “is also commending the brave members and Chairperson of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the #ENDSARS PROTESTS especially the circumstances surrounding the massive cases of extrajudicial killings by the Army and armed police when these armed forces opened fire with lethal weapons targeted at the unarmed protesters.”
The rights group also asked the President not to sweep the lawlessness act of his minister and security agencies under the carpet.
“President Muhammadu Buhari must note that as a Father of many Children he needs to ensure that impunity is never tolerated especially the extrajudicial killings of very youngsters of Nigeria by the Army just for protesting police Brutality”, HURIWA added.