On Friday, Nigerian skit maker Adebowale Adedayo, also known as ‘ Mr Macaroni’, along with dozens of Nigerian youths, stormed the street of Lagos in a solidarity walk to mark the third memorial of the Lekki shooting that took place at the tollgate on 20 October 2020.
Despite heavy police presence, the skit maker and some young Nigerians besieged the Lekki Tollgate to honour those who lost their lives to police and military brutality.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, and other top police officers were also in the area and closely supervised the solidarity walk.
Although the Lagos State Police Command had issued a prior warning against any form of assembly at the Lekki Tollgate, Mr Macaroni and other young Nigerians took to the streets to hold a peace walk.
According to various videos on social media, the protesters, in the company of the police, maintained decorum during the peaceful solidarity walk as they chanted sober songs to remember the events of three years ago, during the #EndSARS protests.
In one of the videos, the 30-year-old skit maker said that the peace walk honours everyone who lost their lives on 20 October 2020.
Speaking about the police presence, Mr Macaroni said, “We’ve done that. We want to walk back, but the police don’t want us to step back. We don’t want to give them a reason or an excuse to fire at us. We’ve been on this for three years and know what they can do.”
He also called for the #EndSARS protesters’ unconditional release.
He said, “I want to use this opportunity to call for the unconditional release of all those still in prisons. There are still some protesters who have been in jail since 2020. Lawyers have been on the cases, with different shouts everyday, but till now, they are still there.
“We are using this walk to once again call on all those concerned to grant the unconditional release of all protesters still in prison.”
#EndSARS
According to the #EndSARS panel set up by the Lagos State government, at least 40 people died in the shooting on 20 October 2020.
The #EndSARS movement emerged as a public outcry against police brutality, extrajudicial killings, extortion, and the abuse of power, particularly by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (). The protests began peacefully and ultimately led to the federal government’s disbanding of SARS.
READ ALSO: #EndSARS Memorial: Police fire tear gas at protesters, arrest four
Regrettably, the demonstrations turned violent as unidentified individuals seized the situation, resulting in the burning of police stations and public facilities and attacks on law enforcement officers and civilians.
The protest culminated on 20 October, 2020, when Nigerian Army personnel opened fire on demonstrators, resulting in tragic loss of lives and numerous injuries, primarily among young protesters.
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