# Nothing happened at the Lekki toll gate: the shooting of #EndSARS protesters was a 'phantom massacre' and soldiers fired only blanks

**Verdict: Contradicted.** The official Nigerian position that no massacre occurred, that soldiers fired only blanks, and that the deaths were a social-media invention is contradicted by the record. A Lagos State judicial panel concluded in November 2021 that soldiers shot unarmed protesters in what it called a 'massacre in context'; Amnesty International documented deaths and injuries the following day; and CNN and BBC visual investigations, ballistics analysis, spent live rounds, autopsies, and a livestreamed shooting all place lethal gunfire at the scene.

Category: Government & Intelligence · Era: 2020s · First circulated: 2020 · Believed by: The position maintained by the Nigerian Army and, at the federal level, by then Information Minister Lai Mohammed
URL: https://theconspiratory.com/theory/lekki-toll-gate-massacre-denial

## Summary
On the night of 20 October 2020, soldiers opened fire on unarmed #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos. The Nigerian Army and the federal government responded not with an inquiry but with denial: first that troops were even present, then that they fired live ammunition, then that anyone had died, culminating in the label 'phantom massacre' and the claim of a 'massacre without blood or bodies.' The denial is the rated claim here, and it is debunked. A Lagos State judicial panel, Amnesty International, forensic pathologists, ballistics experts, and hours of geolocated video establish that live rounds were fired and that people were killed.

## The claim
That no massacre took place at the Lekki toll gate on 20 October 2020: that the Nigerian Army either was not shooting at all or fired only blanks into the air, that no protesters were killed, that reports of a massacre were 'fake news' manufactured on social media, and that the whole episode was, in the government's phrase, a 'massacre without blood or bodies.'

## Origin and timeline
- 2020-10: Nationwide #EndSARS protests demand the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a police unit long accused of extortion, torture, and extrajudicial killing. The Lekki toll gate in Lagos becomes a symbolic protest hub, occupied peacefully for roughly two weeks.
- 2020-10-20: The Lagos State government announces a 24-hour curfew. That evening, according to Amnesty International, CCTV cameras at the toll gate are removed and area lighting is cut shortly before soldiers arrive.
- 2020-10-20: Around 6:50 pm, soldiers open fire on protesters who are seated, waving the Nigerian flag and singing the national anthem. DJ Switch (Obianuju Catherine Udeh) livestreams the shooting on Instagram to tens of thousands of viewers, filming attempts to treat the wounded and collecting spent shells.
- 2020-10-21: Amnesty International conducts an on-the-ground investigation and reports that the army and police killed at least 12 peaceful protesters at Lekki and nearby Alausa, based on eyewitnesses, video footage, and hospital records.
- 2020-10-22: The Nigerian Army publicly brands reports of a shooting 'fake news,' at one point flatly denying that soldiers were even at the toll gate.
- 2020-10-27: At the Lagos judicial panel, an army representative concedes that troops were deployed to the toll gate to enforce the curfew, while a military spokesman continues to deny that soldiers shot at protesters.
- 2020-11-18: CNN publishes a forensic investigation that geolocates and time-stamps eyewitness video, shows soldiers firing toward the crowd, and cites ballistics experts who say the recovered casings are consistent with live rounds. Lai Mohammed dismisses it as 'fake news' and threatens sanctions against CNN.
- 2020-11-21: The army admits before the panel that soldiers deployed to Lekki carried both live and blank ammunition, undercutting the blanks-only line while still denying that live rounds were fired at protesters.
- 2021-11-15: The Lagos State Judicial Panel submits a 309-page report finding that soldiers 'shot, injured and killed unarmed, helpless and defenceless protesters' and describing the events as a 'massacre in context.'
- 2021-11-23: The federal government rejects the report. Lai Mohammed calls it 'the triumph of fake news' and 'tales by moonlight' and insists the government's position, that there was no massacre, is unchanged.

## The evidence, claim by claim
- Claim: Soldiers fired only blanks, or fired into the air, and no live ammunition was used against protesters.
  Evidence: The army itself admitted before the judicial panel in November 2020 that troops deployed to Lekki carried both live and blank rounds. CNN's investigation cited two ballistics experts and current and former Nigerian military officials who said the shape of casings recovered at the scene indicated live rounds; the panel recovered spent shells during a site visit; and forensic pathologist Prof John Obafunwa testified that autopsies on bodies from the toll gate showed deaths from penetrating injuries consistent with a rifled weapon. A blanks-only account cannot produce spent live casings or gunshot fatalities.
- Claim: It was a 'massacre without blood or bodies': no one actually died, so no massacre occurred.
  Evidence: Amnesty International documented at least 12 people killed at Lekki and Alausa on 20 October 2020, drawing on eyewitnesses, video, and hospital reports. The Lagos judicial panel identified 48 casualties, including multiple confirmed dead and four missing and presumed dead, alongside dozens with gunshot wounds. The panel and Amnesty both found evidence that authorities removed bodies from the scene, tampered with CCTV, and refused ambulances access, which helps explain why an initial body count was hard to establish, and is the opposite of proof that no one died.
- Claim: Reports of a massacre were a social-media fabrication with no verifiable evidence behind them.
  Evidence: DJ Switch livestreamed the shooting in real time on Instagram, and independent newsrooms verified the surrounding footage rather than taking it on trust: CNN authenticated eyewitness videos using metadata and geolocation to confirm they were filmed that night at the toll gate, and the BBC's Africa Eye visual investigation reconstructed the timeline from open-source video. This is corroborated primary evidence, not a rumour that originated and stayed on social media.
- Claim: The army was never at the toll gate, so it could not have shot anyone there.
  Evidence: This was the earliest version of the denial and the army abandoned it within days. By late October 2020 an army representative conceded to the panel that soldiers had been deployed to the toll gate to enforce the curfew, and by November the army acknowledged the troops were armed with live and blank rounds. The dispute was no longer about presence but about what the present, armed soldiers did.
- Claim: The judicial panel's report was fake news and 'tales by moonlight,' so its finding of a massacre can be dismissed.
  Evidence: The panel was a formal Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry that heard sworn testimony over roughly a year, examined video and forensic evidence, visited the scene, and produced a 309-page report. Its central finding, that soldiers killed unarmed protesters in a 'massacre in context,' aligns with the independent conclusions of Amnesty International, CNN, and the BBC. The federal rejection offered a competing label, not competing evidence.

## Why people believe it
- The denial served power. An admission would have implicated the army and the government in killing peaceful citizens on camera; denial deferred accountability, and no soldier has been prosecuted for the shooting.
- The cover-up made the denial briefly plausible. With CCTV removed, lights cut, bodies moved, and ambulances blocked, the state manufactured exactly the evidentiary gap, few morgue-confirmed bodies at first, that it then pointed to as proof nothing had happened.
- 'Fake news' was a ready-made frame. In an era of genuine misinformation, officials could recast verified footage as social-media invention and invite a distrustful public to disbelieve what it had watched live.
- National pride and institutional loyalty made the claim easier to accept for some. Believing that the Nigerian Army would not massacre flag-waving citizens singing the anthem is more comfortable than concluding that it did.
- Repetition by senior officials lent it weight. When an information minister states flatly and repeatedly that there was no massacre, the sheer authority and persistence of the assertion can substitute, for a receptive audience, for the evidence it lacks.

## Open questions
- The exact death toll is still contested. Amnesty documented at least 12 killed across Lekki and Alausa; the panel confirmed a smaller number of bodies at the toll gate specifically while listing others as missing and presumed dead. The removal of bodies and CCTV means a precise, universally agreed figure may never be fixed, which is a consequence of the cover-up, not evidence against the shooting.
- Accountability remains unresolved years later. The panel recommended disciplinary action and prosecutions, but no soldier or officer has been convicted, and the chain of command that ordered armed troops to the toll gate has not been fully established in public.
- Who gave the order to remove the CCTV cameras and cut the lighting before the shooting, and on whose authority, has not been definitively answered, though the sequence points to advance planning rather than a spontaneous clash.
- The federal government never issued evidence to rebut the panel, only a rejection. Whether any official record supports the 'no massacre' position, or whether it rests entirely on assertion, is itself an open question the state has not resolved.

## Sources
- 2020 Lekki toll gate shooting: Nigerian judicial panel condemns shooting as 'a massacre', CNN (2021): https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/15/africa/lekki-tollgate-judicial-panel-report-intl
- Lekki toll gate: Nigerian government rejects report on shooting as 'fake news', CNN (2021): https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/24/africa/nigeria-rejects-endsars-report-intl
- Nigerian army admits to having live rounds at Lekki Toll Gate, despite previous denials, CNN (2020): https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/21/africa/nigeria-shooting-lekki-toll-gate-intl/index.html
- Panel of inquiry finds Nigerian army culpable in Lekki 'massacre', Al Jazeera (2021): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/16/panel-of-inquiry-finds-nigerian-army-culpable-in-lekki-massacre
- Nigeria's military admits to be at shooting but denies shooting, Al Jazeera (2020): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/28/nigerias-military-admits-to-be-at-shooting-but-denies-shooting
- Nigeria: Authorities must stop attempts to cover up Lekki Toll Gate massacre, new investigative timeline, Amnesty International (2020): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2020/10/nigeria-authorities-must-stop-attempts-to-cover-up-lekki-toll-gate-massacre-new-investigative-timeline/
- Nigeria: Killing of #EndSARS protesters by the military must be investigated, Amnesty International (2020): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2020/10/killing-of-endsars-protesters-by-the-military-must-be-investigated/
- Lekki toll gate shootings: Nigeria's 'massacre without blood or bodies', BBC News (2021): https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58975493
- DJ Switch on EndSARS Protest Violence, Fighting for Nigeria's Future, Time (2021): https://time.com/5922305/dj-switch-nigeria-endsars/

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