EndSARS protest heroine, DJ Switch, a Nigerian female disc jockey, has said that soldiers who opened fire on unarmed protesters at Lekki tollgate in Lagos revealed to her that they were carrying out “orders from above.”
She made her submission during a teleconference with the sub-committee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the Canadian parliament.
The almost three-hour-long session, which held on Friday, was to help her audience piece together from an eyewitness account, the events of October 20, which saw the shooting of unarmed protesters by soldiers at Lekki toll gate.
At the meeting, DJ Switch recalled speaking to one of the military men over why they shot at them.
“I remember the military came in first, they stopped shooting at some point and I walked up to one of them and asked why he was shooting at us and he said he had express order from above,” she said.
“I was coming too close to him and if I come too close, it would be considered an attack on him and he would have to shoot. It didn’t take another ten minutes, the shooting started again.”
She countered claims by the Nigerian Army that the soldiers only fired blank bullets, stating that they shot at protesters after creating a three-formation line.
The DJ stated that she fled Nigeria amid death threats over her involvement in the campaign aimed at ending police brutality, particularly during the Lagos shooting.
“I have been on the move because they have been after my life. The first threat came in, I thought it was a joke, I sincerely thought it was a joke,” she said.
“Just as I was leaving, I got a phone call that I should leave the vicinity because there are military men at the hospital.
“I had to abandon my home, I moved from people’s home, and then just to get out of Nigeria. I am still travelling, and I am not done with my trip.”
#LekkiShooting #EndSARS pic.twitter.com/sTXlGWW0PN
— BizWatch Nigeria (@BizWatchNigeria) November 10, 2020
Some of the witnesses during the meeting include Osai Ojigho, country director of Amnesty International Nigeria; Tim Okafor, national coordinator of Biafrans in Canada Community Association; and Stella Kemdirim, member of Biafrans in Canada Community Association.
The development comes amid reports that the DJ, whose real name is Obianuju Catherine Udeh, had sought asylum in Canada.
There have been conflicting reports on the actual casualties after the shooting which has continued to attract global condemnation.
DJ Switch had earlier said at least 15 persons were shot dead on the night while several others sustained injuries of varying degrees.
