Soldiers Involved In Lekki Shooting Should Be Commended – Ex-Army Spokesman

Brigadier General Sani Usman, a former Director Army Public Relations, has stated that soldiers involved in the Lekki Tollgate shooting should be commended for their professionalism.

Recall that soldiers of the Nigerian Army had opened fire on peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate.

Following the shooting, he Army denied that its officers were present at the scene of the incident after widespread condemnation.

But in a u-turn on Wednesday, the 81 Division of the Nigerian Army (NA) admitted that the Lagos State Government invited the military to intervene during the End SARS protests after the declaration of a curfew.

Speaking in an interview with Arise TV on Thursday, Usman claimed that Military personnel who shot protesters at Lekki toll gate used ‘blank ammunition.

According to the former army spokesperson, the blank ammunition used to disperse protesters has little or no effect on its target.

“If you look at the canisters, they were blank ammo and blank ammo don’t even kill. At a close range, maybe 100metres – maybe it will have some pigmentation on your skin,” he said.

“Remember the military are armed and by the nature of their training, they are trained to kill and I think the military in its wisdom instead of using live ammunition decided to use blank armour which is meant for training.

“I think they should be commended for that otherwise there would have been serious collateral damage, but they were professional enough to have done that.”