Lekki Killings: I Am Yet To Speak With Buhari – Sanwo-Olu

Following the orgy of violence in the state since Tuesday, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday, said he was yet to speak with President Muhammadu Buhari over the killing of protesters at the Lekki Tollgate.

Sanwo-Olu stated this in an interview on Arise TV.

The #EndSARS protests by youths campaigning against police brutality, harassment and extra-judicial killings, reached a crescendo on Tuesday night when soldiers allegedly opened fire on the protesters.

There is no official figure as to the number of casualties, reports say over 40 persons were killed.

The youths continued their protest on Tuesday night despite the curfew imposed on the state by Sanwo-Olu to quell tension in the state.

According to the governor during the interview, he had made two attempts to no avail, to speak with the president on Wednesday.

He added that when he first called the president’s office, he was told the Buhari was yet to resume in the office and the second time the president was said to be attending the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

The Lagos governor said he later got a call from the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin on the order of the President.

He said the Chief of Defence had called around midday on Wednesday “to say that if indeed I require for the military to come out, they will deploy them”.

He did not however, say whether he accepted the offer.

He said, “I made calls to want to speak with the President yesterday. First, he hadn’t come to the office and the second time he was at the FEC meeting. So indeed I haven’t spoken to him directly but I actually did call to want to speak to him.

“But like I said he was at the FEC meeting…He was actually the one that asked the Chief of Defence Staff to call me. I think it was when he got my message because when the Chief of Defence called me, he said the President asked him to call. I haven’t spoken to him directly, maybe later today that might happen. I don’t have a report to say this is what he said because we haven’t spoken.”

Recall that suspected arsonists had set ablaze, several establishment one after the other.

The facilities razed after the melee, included, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) terminals in Oyingbo and Ojodu Berger which had several buses; headquarters of the Nation Newspapers, Television Continental, the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), police stations, local government council offices, among others.