A week after the shooting of peaceful demonstrators in Lagos, Nigeria’s army has admitted its soldiers were deployed to restore order, but denied they opened fire on the gathered crowd protesting against police brutality.
At least 10 protesters were killed in the Lekki plaza shooting on October 20, according to Amnesty International.
The army had maintained that its troops were not at the site, but late on Tuesday a military spokesman, Major Osoba Olaniyi, said soldiers were sent to enforce a curfew. However, he denied that the troops shot at the protesters.
“At no time did soldiers of the Nigerian army open fire on any civilian,” Olaniyi said in a statement.
Olaniyi said soldiers were deployed on orders from the Lagos state government due to “violence which led to several police stations being burnt, policemen killed, suspects in police custody released and weapons carted away”.
