The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has maintained that the reports that its operatives shot some unarmed #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate plaza on Tuesday remain mere allegations.
The Coordinator Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche stated this on Thursday while fielding questions on the incident from defence correspondents at the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.
Enenche added that he is not permitted to speak further on the incident so as not to compromise the outcome of the findings by the Commission of Enquiry already constituted by the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwolu.
It will be recalled that the Tuesday Lekki toll gate shootings has attracted wide attention and criticism at both local and international levels.
But Enenche on Thursday who was reluctant to answer questions related to the shooting, declared that the alleged role of the military in the incident is nothing, but pure speculations and urged Nigerians to remain calm and wait for the outcome of investigations.
In his words, “We are dealing with major operations, anything outside this is what is called Operation MENSA, I may not want to go too much into Operation MENSA because it is not a major operation. We have nine Operations and other subsidiary Operations which I have been directed to focus.
“Operation MENSA is strictly under the policy directive of the various states we have them all over the country and it is the oldest of all Operations. For this Operation you have the Military, Navy Air Force, Civil Defence and the Police put together. So these Operations are still standing and running and I am aware that the state governments are using them in all these capacities, that is internal security, the level we are now is internal security and that is why the Police proactively came out and then deployed all their Force package that are necessary to handle that so that is where we are. So if there was anything and if it is true, why am I saying if it is true because up to this morning, I even called analysts who have analyzed videos that were photoshopped and put together, if not that I am not permitted, I would have forwarded it to you.
“The issue is not an operation that I can respond to. But I can tell you that it is an allegation for now, so let us not set the cart before the horse. If the matter was still open-ended I would have had I response for you but it is no longer open-ended, because immediately, not even up to five hours, before midnight the Governor of Lagos set up an Inquiry, so whatever we say now will not be fair to the Commission.”
