Members of Parliament of the United Kingdom have taken up the sporadic Lekki toll gate shooting that led to the death of alleged 76 protesters on Tuesday.
A member of the UK parliament was on Wednesday seen in video obtained by BusinssDay addressing other parliamentarians as he described the matter as one that was crucial.
“It is crucial given the horrific scenes we have seen overnight,” the member said to the minister.
Drawing the attention of other parliamentarians to the issue, the member said he had to bring it up because of the “shocking scenes of the brutality and violence that we have seen at the Lekki toll gate. he added: “I hope that the Minister can perhaps share with us the government’s responses to the shocking scenes.”
Videos and graphic scenes from an eye witness and protesters show that security forces dressed in Nigerian army uniform opened fire on unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city on Tuesday night.
While President Muhammadu Buhari has not directly addressed the shooting but called on Nigerians to be patient as police reforms “gather pace” Amnesty have said there is credible evidence of excessive use of force leading to the death of protesters.
Meanwhile, the protest by predominantly young Nigerians is part of a nationwide #EndSARS movement which started as an opposition against the now-dissolved special anti-robbery squad (SARS) of the Nigeria police force.
The open fire on unarmed protesters has gotten global attention as even the shooting was condemned by the former US secretary of states, Hilary Clinton, as she called out President Buhari and the military to put an end to the killings.
Also, the UK parliament says it will consider a petition asking the country to sanction the federal government for human rights abuses over the #EndSARS movement. This is following a petition by more than 133,000 signatures, less than 24 hours after it was created, and is more than the 100,000 signatures required by the parliament before it considers a petition.
The petition on the UK government and parliament website accused the government and the police of violating the rights of agitators protesting against police brutality.
It asked the UK to implement sanctions that would “provide accountability for and be a deterrent to anyone involved in violations of human rights”.
“Parliament will consider this for a debate … waiting for less than a day for a debate date,” the government-owned website stated.
