The Presidency has rejected the report of Amnesty International alleging that their reports were not factual.
The Presidency said the Amnesty International cannot be more aware of facts about happenings in the Nigeria than the government.
Speaking at the Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Thursday, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, countered the allegations that the looting and rioting during the #Endsars protest were caused by the military shootings.
Adesina insisted that violence had erupted in some parts of the country before the Lekki incident.
“You are not quite correct. You are falling for the narrative of Amnesty International. And Amnesty is wrong. Anarchy had broken loose before even Lekki. The prisons in Benin and Oko had been broken open before Lekki. Orile police station had been burnt before Lekki.”
“Many policemen had been burnt before Lekki shooting. So, you cannot say it was Lekki shooting that precipitated all those things. Look at the timelines, look at all those things. You will discover that it had happened before Lekki. So, you are falling for the gambit of Amnesty International.”
“Amnesty International does not have all the facts, they don’t run this country, they shouldn’t know beyond what they have been told. They shouldn’t know more than you and I should know as media people as watchers of developments.”
Asked if it was the President’s thinking that Amnesty’s report was wrong, Chief Adesina alleged that Amnesty International was in the habit of making unsubstantiated reports about Nigeria.
According to him, “Many times, the military has come out to dispute facts brought out by Amnesty.”
Quizzed on whether President Buhari approved the military action in Lekki as the commander-in-chief, Adesina said the answer was under the jurisdiction of the panel of inquiry looking into the matter.
