In a recent interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stood firmly by his controversial assessment of the events surrounding the October 20, 2020, EndSARS protest. Despite the years that have passed since the incident, the former minister reiterated his assertion that while the broader protests were undoubtedly fatal for many, the specific events at the Lekki tollgate did not result in any deaths. He made it clear that his perspective on the matter remains resolute as the fifth anniversary of the demonstrations approaches.

Addressing the enduring debate over the casualty count, Mohammed emphasized that the government has never denied the overall loss of life during the period of civil unrest. “Five years later, my position has not changed. At no point did the government ever say that lives were not lost during EndSARS. We lost several lives, including soldiers and policemen, but nobody was killed at the toll gate,” he said. By distinguishing between the general violence and the specific location of the tollgate, he sought to clarify the government’s official record of the night’s events.

The former minister also provided insight into the high-level communications that took place as the situation in Lagos escalated. He disclosed that he was actively involved in the security deliberations leading up to the military’s involvement in the city. “Even before the soldiers were drafted, I was in touch with the Chief of Defence Staff. I was in touch with the hierarchy of the military because we were monitoring these developments,” he explained, suggesting that the government’s actions were based on continuous monitoring of the protests.

To support his claim that the tollgate remained a site without fatalities, Mohammed pointed to what he described as a lack of missing person reports specifically tied to that location. He argued that the passage of time has only strengthened his argument, given the absence of families coming forward with specific claims. “It’s a very simple logic. Five years after, nobody has come out Today to say, ‘My ward went to the toll gate, and he didn’t come back’,” Mohammed said during the broadcast.

This reaffirmed stance continues to clash with various reports from human rights organizations and the findings of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, which previously concluded that a “massacre” had indeed occurred at the site. However, for the former minister, the lack of identified victims from the tollgate remains the primary evidence for his position. His comments serve as a reminder of the deep and persistent divisions regarding the history and legacy of the EndSARS movement in Nigeria.