#EndSARSMemorial: Police Commissioner blame harassment on overzealousness as officers arrest protesters, journalists at Lekki toll gate

Police officers on Wednesday harassed and arrested peaceful protesters and journalists who had gathered at the Lekki toll gate to hold a procession in commemoration of the one-year remembrance of #EndSARS protesters killed at the toll gate on Tuesday, October 20, 2020.

During the procession monitored live by Neusroom, some of the protesters were heard protesting their innocence as they were being dragged to the waiting police van. Some of those arrested include a journalist with TV 360, who claimed he was arrested at VGC about 16km away from the toll gate, an Uber driver, and others yet to be identified.

Lagos Police Commissioner Hakeem Odumosu, while speaking with journalists at the toll gate, however, assured that those arrested would be released after proper identification.

Odumosu, while apologising to journalists who were harassed by police at the toll-gate, said, “with the number of police out there, if it’s our normal behaviour, almost all of them would have brutalised everybody. But whoever may have done that would be penalised once identified. We have instructed them not to harass any journalist notwithstanding the tool they may have brought here to do their job.”