Brigadier General Musa Etsu -Ndagi, the commander of 9 Brigade, who represented the Nigerian Army at the Security Council told the Lagos State Panel of inquiry that he received a phone call from Governor Babajide Sanwoolu, the Lagos State Governor around 7:30 pm. The Governor was reported to have informed him that LT Col. Bello, the Commanding Officer, 65 Battalion, Bonny Camp, Victoria Island, was reportedly shooting at the venue of the #EndSars protests in Lekki tollgate.
Etsu-Ndagi immediately reached out to Bello, who told they only fired blank ammunition into the air.
Etsu-Ndagi insisted that NA officers did not kill anyone and there was no massacre at the Lekki Toll on the night of October 20. The statements presented to the panel on oath said that the NA did not use live ammunition and they did not take any dead bodies as reported by some media houses.
LT. Bello said that protesters were in fact glad to see the NA on the scene of the protests. He said that the NA offered the protesters water and drinks while urging them to return home to observe the 24-hour curfew declared by the Lagos State Government.
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Brigadier General Francis Omata corroborated LT.Bello by adding that by the time they reached the tollgate, the protest had become violent.
Another witness who represented the NA was Brigadier General Ahmed Taiwo, the Chief of Staff, 81 Division, Nigerian Army, VI, Lagos.
