On Thursday evening, Nigerians gathered at the Muri Okunola Park in Victoria Island, Lagos State, to pay tribute to Ilerioluwa Aloba (Mohbad), a popular Nigerian artiste who passed away on September 12 under mysterious circumstances.

The planned candlelight procession and concert in his honour was to start at 5 pm but people had begun to gather before then.

Attendees soon populated the park in their thousands and popular Nigerian entertainers began perfoming.

From its interactions with attendees, FIJ learnt that Oladotun Kayode, an OAP with Cool FM, moderated the event and made attempts to disperse the growing crowd at about 7:30 pm.

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This attempt was futile as the crowd wanted to maintain its momentum beyond that time. The trending virtual banner had promised them a concert that would start by 8 pm, but it started and ended earlier.

What followed was a march towards the Lekki tollgate where soldiers killed many Nigerians on October 20, 2020, while protesting against police brutality.

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Some sources said that the crowd continued its procession through that route but others said they had begun to block the area to demand justice while drawing on the significance of the location.

The police arrived at the scene soon after and asked the crowd to leave. Some policemen could be heard saying, “If you love Imole [a nickname Aloba adopted while alive], go home. Please if you love him, go home. Thank you.”

Soon, shots went off. The police began shooting and firing teargas cannisters into the crowd to disperse them.

FIJ was unable to independently verify the status of casualties but learnt that no fewer than two people were left unconscious, and a number of others sustained injuries.

The deployment of teargas cannisters to disperse protesters in Nigeria is not new. The police in Lagos argued that it was the least harmful thing they could do to disperse crowds, but Amnesty International said, “The impact of tear gas can be so severe that Amnesty International has joined Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, in concluding that in certain situations it amounts to torture or other ill-treatment.”

FIJ made phone calls to Benjamin Hundeyin, the spokesperson for the police in the state, for comments on the matter on Friday morning, but they were not answered. A text message sent to him had also not been responded to at press time.