Barely twenty four hours after Nigerian police beat and arrested #OccupyLekkiTollGate protesters at Lekki tollgate who went out to protest against the reopening of the tollgate where activists denouncing police brutality were shot last year, many Nigerians have taken to social media to throw their weights behind the protesters by asking President Muhammadu Buhari to “GO”.
The protesters are bluntly calling on President Buhari to go with the hashtag #BuhariMustGo trending #1 on twitter.
According to rights group Amnesty International and witnesses, soldiers opened fire on protesters on October 20, killing at least 12 people at a toll gate in the city’s affluent Lekki district and another area.
The military and police have denied denied involvement.
Aljazeera quoted witnesses as saying there was a heavy presence of armed police officers on Saturday at the toll gate, where a group of about 15 protesters gathered despite calls by the government this week to scrap the demonstration.
No fewer than six of the Protesters were beaten with truncheons and arrested before being driven away in police vans.
“They are already manhandling us, but we’re not going to be deterred. We’re not going to step down,” Reuters quoted one man, who did not provide his name as he was being arrested, to have said.
Police bundled about 13 protesters into a black truck at the toll gate where security forces had deployed since Friday evening, an AFP news agency reporter at the scene said.
“Lekki toll gate should be made a museum of resistance and not a monument for money-making,” said Damilare Adebola, 24, who spoke from the police van where he was being held.