The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Hakeem Odumosu, has explained why operatives fired a tear gas canister at the Lekki tollgate, during the #EndSARSMemorial car procession, on Wednesday, October 20.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television at the venue, Odumosu said the police did not disperse the youths taking part in the procession. Rather, he stated that the security operatives fired tear gas to disperse those he described as miscr*ants at the venue.

According to him:

“We did not fire canister to disperse protesters.

If you have your recording, you will know the type of the canister that we fired and if you go back, you will see the period that they (the organisers) posted – it was between 8am and 10am.

Secondly, we agreed that they need to move in vehicles, not on foot. They can blare their horns, they can wave their flags, they can display their posters, no problem. But they are not to be on foot, and we agreed that they won’t come down from their vehicle to address anybody; that is where people will start coming in and converging.

We arrested someone with a machete, is that a protester? That is evidence to us that miscreants have infiltrated them.

Those people that gather now are on foot, they are the miscreants that infiltrated them; not those that came with their vehicles. We did not dr*g anybody out of the car. We did not arrest anybody that is known to be a protester.”