Following several denials from the Nigerian government and its description of the Lekki toll gate incident as a massacre without bodies, Kingsley Moghalu has said the federal government is living in denial.
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Moghalu is a former Nigerian presidential candidate and said the country needs to get to the root cause of what happened at the toll plaza but expressed a lack of faith in the current inquiry as opposed to a “more robust independent inquiry which could be made up of national elements but maybe some international elements from the point of view of human rights.”
According to him, the shootings at the Lekki toll plaza are a very big demonstration of the character of the Nigerian state.
“If I am to look at some of the things coming out of the government, some of the statements, there’s a lot of denial, the Nigerian government is living in denial because the shootings at Lekki are a very big demonstration of the character of the Nigerian state,” Moghalu, a Professor of International Business and public policy told ARISE News.
He added that “the problem with some of these inquiries is that, while they may be helpful to air what’s going on they may become shows, which do not go to the root of the problem at the end of the day.”
Moghalu further said that the Nigerian state still manifests arrogance towards its citizens and has failed to hold security operatives accountable. He doubts whether the panels of inquiry will deal with these issues.
“The Nigerian Police is not being held accountable, the Nigerian security forces are not being held accountable, there is a lot of denials, there is still a lot of arrogance on the part of the Nigerian state towards its citizens and that’s a foundational thing, and I am not very sure whether these commissions of inquiry are going to address that substantively.
“I do think that these things are a response, but how helpful they will be at the end of the day, we have yet to see,” he said
Moghalu, who’s also a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria said the actions of President Buhari following the shooting at the Lekki toll plaza showed he wasn’t serious in investigating the incident.
“When EndSARS started and those shooting happened, I believe that the Inspector-general of Police ought to have resigned or been asked to have asked to resign.
“These are the kind of things president Buhari will do and it becomes very clear that he’s serious, but people denying whether there were shootings at Lekki whereas we have seen all the evidence with us and around the world, I think tells you that maybe the intentions are not really what they ought to be.,” he said.
By Abel Ejikeme
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