Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has reiterated that claims of a “massacre” at the Lekki Toll Gate during the 2020 EndSARS protests are false, attributing such narratives to unverified reports and fake news circulating widely on social media. Speaking on ARISE News while discussing his new book, Headlines and Soundbites: Media Moments That Defined an Administration, Mohammed said one of the greatest challenges during his tenure was combating misinformation, particularly surrounding EndSARS.
“EndSARS was tragic and unfortunate, but the idea of a massacre at the toll gate is fake news,” Mohammed stated, emphasizing that no families have come forward in the five years since the incident to report a missing relative connected to the protest. “If a man has a goat and it doesn’t return home one night, he would search for it. Five years on, nobody has come to say their son or ward went to the toll gate and didn’t return,” he added.
Mohammed also addressed CNN’s reporting on the event, asserting that their coverage was based on second-hand information rather than on-the-ground verification. He maintained that while lives were indeed lost during EndSARS across Nigeria—in Lagos, Abuja, and Kano—the precise reporting of casualties at the Lekki Toll Gate had been misrepresented.
Highlighting the role of social media, the former minister said that unregulated online platforms had become a national threat by spreading misinformation. “One of the jobs of a communicator, and one of the biggest challenges, is preventing fake news from overshadowing the real facts,” he said. Mohammed defended the 2021 suspension of Twitter, describing the move as necessary to curb the spread of harmful and misleading content.
The Lekki Toll Gate incident on October 20, 2020, occurred amid nationwide protests against police brutality. While protesters had gathered peacefully, reports indicated that security forces opened fire, resulting in casualties and widespread panic. The event has remained a focal point of national and international attention, prompting debates over police conduct, human rights, and transparency, with official accounts and independent investigations offering varying figures on the number of deaths.
