Lekki Massacre: CNN and Lai Mohammed’s Burden

Yesterday, a documentary was aired by the Cable Network News (CNN) on the massacre of peaceful Nigerian protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos. The documentary contained video clips of what CNN claims were footages showing how Nigerian Army officers shot live ammunition into the protesters, killing many and injuring others. What is now known as the Lekki Massacre has attracted widespread condemnation across the world. The CNN claims it has traced the ammunition used to where they were manufactured and when they were procured by Nigeria.

Expectedly, the Nigerian government is not impressed. The Minister of Information and Communications, Lai Mohammed, has condemned the documentary and said the CNN should be sanctioned for producing and airing it. Lai Mohammed must be deeply pained by the CNN’s audacity to report what Nigerian media houses dare not report. In the wake of the #EndSARS protests, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) slammed a fine of 3 million Naira each on some media organizations. Although the NBC was quick to deny that the sanctions were related to the organizations’ coverage of the protests, it was not a convincing explanation to many observers.

The Nigerian government has tried hard to sweep the Lekki Massacre under the carpet. The morning following the shootings, Lagos governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu denied that anyone had died at the Lekki Toll Gate. He equally claimed the shootings had occurred on the orders of those not under the control of the state government. The Nigerian Army also denied being at the Toll Gate that night. The impression they desired to create was that unknown gunmen in military uniforms had carried out the shootings. Unfortunately, their narrative collapsed like a pack of cards when video footages streamed live from the venue of the shootings began to surface on the internet. At the moment, the Nigerian Army has not only admitted being at the toll gate. It has also admitted that it was there on the invitation of the governor of Lagos.

Notwithstanding, those who support the government and who think the protests were intended to depose General Muhammadu Buhari from power continue to spin varying degrees of contrary narratives. Some claim the shootings never happened – that somehow, after protesting for about two weeks, the protesters suddenly decided to create videos claiming they were being shot at. In order to justify their position, they challenge families who have lost loved ones to the shooting to step forward. Others claim that if the Nigerian Army had shot at the protesters that night, corpses would have littered the toll gate. They ask for corpses as evidence that the shootings happened. While this debate continued among Nigerians, the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria, moved against those who supported the #EndSARS protests. The bank has frozen the accounts of these individuals.

So far, all eyes are on the Lagos Judicial Commission of Enquiry. While some observers don’t trust the commission to make any impartial submissions, they at least seem to enjoy the opportunity to know some of the things emanating from the hearings. Each revelation increases the moral burden on the conscience of the Nigerian government. This is why its officials and supporters have been increasingly desperate to explain away what happened at the Lekki Toll Gate. Notwithstanding, their narratives have refused to sell. Nigerian government officials must have woken up with shock to watch the documentary that the CNN aired on the Lekki Massacre. Given the CNN’s reputation for investigative journalism and its wide coverage, government’s embarrassment can only be imagined.

Apparently in a quandary over how to explain to the world that rather than surmount the insurgency, banditry and kidnapping and alleged genocide against minority tribes, the government is shooting to death its own citizens, Lai Mohammed spoke up. His verdict seems to absolve the Nigerian Army of all wrong doing at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20. Instead, he only sees evil in the CNN’s documentary. Lai Mohammed thinks the CNN scooped its videos from the social media and should be sanctioned. The CNN in its defence has claimed that it gathered its information first-hand from those who were live at the scene of the shootings and families which are mourning their dead and looking for their missing ones. Apparently, not much would come out of the commission of enquiry sitting in Lagos. What is not apparent is how Lai Mohammed intends to sanction the CNN.

It is not impossible to build Nigeria into a country whose citizens feel genuinely proud to defend her against malicious foreign and local news organizations. But that’s not the priority of the Nigerian government. It prefers to alienate its citizens while constantly spurning tactics to defend itself against the patriotic criticisms of the courageous few. This seems to be Lai Mohammed’s greatest burden – how to do this without attracting the piercing reportage of off-target media organizations like the CNN.