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Following a deleted tweet by Governor Sanwo-Olu’s now-suspended senior special assistant on print media, Wale Ajetunmobi, Nigerians have taken to social media to react to the country’s corrupt judicial system.
On Nov. 23, 2024, Wale, on his X account, stated that the arsonists responsible for attacking TVC during the EndSARS protest in 2020 had either been hunted down or executed, hinting at extrajudicial punishment by Nigerian soldiers.
“The full story of people who burnt down TVC in 2020 will be told one day, with gory clips and images. One thing to note: majority of them have been hunted down and executed,” he said.
Although he mentioned no names, this tweet sparked a wide discussion on X as to how he could get a hold of this information if he was not privy to the hunting down, and shortly after this, the tweets were deleted.
Nigerians, however, see this as Wale’s brazen show of power that we live in a lawless country.
Popular Human Rights Activist Savvy Rinu stated that Wale boldly made this statement because he knew there would be no consequence to revealing the truth.
“SanwoOlu aides and co are very emboldened by their perceived monopoly of violence in Lagos. They dog whistle, spread tribal hatred, division, etc. That’s why @Riddwane blurted out the truth about executions and murder of citizens during #ENDSARS protests. He knows there will be no consequences to his revelation,” she said.
“Nigerians being hunted down and executed in Lagos, to his knowledge, is something which should not be left for later. Wale Ajetunmobi needs to come and explain further right away. How can you execute people without taking them to court? That’s jungle justice, and Ronu will be defending that nobody was killed during #EndSarsProtest. This is an open confession.” Dearest Jessica also commented.
Investigative Journalist Fisayo Soyombo also reacted to the news, saying it was nothing but the truth and tagged a story he had worked on regarding the same matter. “What Sanwo-Olu’s media aide said is nothing but the truth. People were “hunted down and executed” during the #EndSARS protests — not just during/after a part of TVC was set ablaze. I wrote a bit about it for @fijnigeria here,” he said.
In a brief statement on Nov. 26, 2024, the Lagos State Government mentioned that Wale had been suspended due to his controversial tweet. The government stated that Wale’s tweet misrepresented facts and what the state government stands for.
“The Governor wishes to state categorically that his administration frowns at any form of extra-judicial punishment and will not be a part of any such action. That is not who we are. That is not our way.”
Replying to the press release put out by the Lagos State Government after the suspension, Savvy Rinu also commented,
“What do you mean by misrepresentation of facts? Aren’t you the one trying to misrepresent facts here? He just stated what he knows, but you are trying to turn it into misrepresentation.”
