Police fired tear gas at a memorial gathering on Tuesday morning. The event was the sixth anniversary of the #EndSARS protests. It was held at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos. The Enough is Enough movement organised a wreath-laying procession. Police officers had converged on the tollgate before the event began. They dispersed the small crowd with tear gas canisters. Participants fled before the wreaths could be laid.
Historical background: On 20 October 2020, soldiers and police opened fire on #EndSARS protesters at the toll gate. The Lagos judicial panel confirmed at least 11 deaths. The military denied firing live rounds. The anniversary has been marked every year. In 2021, police tear-gassed a similar memorial. In 2024, another gathering was broken up. The pattern repeats. The state has not explained why remembrance is treated as a security threat.
Current event: Two governorship candidates were caught in the incident. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour is the ADC candidate for Lagos. Funso Doherty is the NDC candidate. Both had come to lay wreaths. Journalists were also affected. A video showed participants scrambling for safety as the tear gas spread. The Lagos State Police Command has not issued an official explanation for the dispersal. The wreath-laying did not happen. The dead were not honoured.
The incident reinforces a divide. The government says it has reformed policing. Activists say nothing has changed. The use of tear gas on a peaceful memorial suggests the latter is right. The state has not learned. It still treats #EndSARS as a threat rather than a wound.
Winners and Losers
Winners: The police, who assert control. The government, if it wanted the memorial stopped.
Losers: The victims of the 2020 shooting, whose memory was again denied. Rhodes-Vivour and Doherty, who were tear-gassed. Journalists, who were obstructed. The Enough is Enough movement, whose event was disrupted. The right to peaceful assembly, which was curtailed. Lagos residents, who see their state choose force over remembrance.
Bottom Line: A memorial was tear-gassed. Six years later, the state still cannot face the dead. The police did not explain. The candidates were not deterred. The anniversary will return. So will the tear gas.