LEKKI: WHY I BELIEVE THE PROTESTERS!
''The Army's case has been blighted by too many contradictory and inconsistent versions.
At first, and for more than one week, it insisted it was not at the scene of the shooting, and that it did not fire any shots. Belatedly, it now agrees
''The Army's case has been blighted by too many contradictory and inconsistent versions.
At first, and for more than one week, it insisted it was not at the scene of the shooting, and that it did not fire any shots. Belatedly, it now agrees
that it was indeed at Lekki. And now, a retired Brigadier - General, who was in Abuja on the night of the shooting, almost a thousand miles away from the crime scene, has suddenly appeared to peddle hearsay, claiming that the Army only fired blanks!
To get at the truth of this
To get at the truth of this
matter, it is important to focus on the Army's first version, ie, that it was not at Lekki at all. If all that the Army did was to arrive Lekki and fire blanks which did not kill any protester but merely dispersed them, why did the Army for more than a week attempt to contrive
the ALIBI that it was not at Lekki at all on the night? It is a cardinal phenomenon in criminal jurisprudence that ALIBIS are basically pleaded to take an alleged offender away from the crime scene. Lekki was a crime scene, and that's exactly the reason why the Army pleaded an
ALIBI, and the crime for which the Army shamelessly lied for more than one week is more probable to have been something more sinister than the firing of tepid blank shells.
The story of the protesters is simple, direct and straightforward: that cameras were removed, lights
The story of the protesters is simple, direct and straightforward: that cameras were removed, lights
switched off, and the Army then arrived and opened fire, killing some protesters, and carting away their bodies. The cardinal principle of evaluation of evidence is that if the evidence proffered by one side is inconsistent and contradictory, then the whole versions are to be
disbelieved in their entirety, as there is no basis at all to pick and choose which version to believe. That would then leave us only with the testimony of the side whose version is direct, consistent and non contradictory as more likely to be true - and that is the version of
the protesters.
That bodies have not been found would not disable their version; an Army that spirited away more than 350 bodies in Zaria, and more than 20 in Afaraukwu, can replicate the same feat with a mere 15 bodies at Lekki. That families have not come out at all to report
That bodies have not been found would not disable their version; an Army that spirited away more than 350 bodies in Zaria, and more than 20 in Afaraukwu, can replicate the same feat with a mere 15 bodies at Lekki. That families have not come out at all to report
missing relatives is not a decisive factor. How many of us here have bothered to call all our relatives in Lagos to find out if they were at Lekki, on the night? Before 35 floating bodies were discovered floating on the Ezu River in Anambra State, how many families did report
missing members?''
-Kenneth Ikonne,SAN.
-Kenneth Ikonne,SAN.
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