Former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has again rejected claims of a massacre at the Lekki Tollgate during the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
His latest dismissal came during a live appearance on ARISE TV on Wednesday night, where he doubled down on his long-held stance.
Mohammed, who spoke extensively on the controversy, said foreign media outlets created what he described as a false narrative.
Moreover, he argued that reports by major outlets, especially CNN, were not based on firsthand evidence.
The claim from the former minister immediately reignited public debate.
He stated that “CNN was not at the toll gate. CNN relied on secondhand and third-hand information.”
Furthermore, he insisted that his disagreement with their report was tied to what he viewed as an absence of factual verification.
Mohammed stressed that people died during the nationwide protests but maintained that branding the Lekki incident a massacre was misleading.
“Nobody ever said nobody died during #EndSARS. People died in Abuja, they died in Lagos, they died in Kano,” he said.
However, he questioned why no family had come forward five years later to claim a missing loved one.
He added, “If a man has a goat and the goat does not come home one night, he will go out to look for that goat.”
The former minister argued that the term “massacre” was used to inflame emotions.
“Massacre is fake news. Thirty-seven policemen were killed, six soldiers were k!lled. This is what I kept saying,” he emphasised.
In addition, Mohammed addressed the controversial suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria in 2021.
He explained that the move was not triggered by the deletion of a tweet by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said he had advised the president based on broader security concerns, not personal grievances.
“He even asked if it was because they deleted his tweet. I said no, and I gave him instances and examples,”Mohammed revealed.
Furthermore, he insisted that Twitter had become a tool used by individuals seeking to destabilise the country.
Meanwhile, his remarks have drawn mixed reactions online as Nigerians continue to debate the events of October 20, 2020, and the government’s response.
