LAGOS State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has suspended his senior special assistant on print media, Wale Ajetunmobi, over a controversial post he made on his personal X account.
The suspension was announced on Tuesday by the governor’s special adviser on media and publicity, Gbenga Akosile, who stated that Ajetunmobi’s actions misrepresented the state government.
Ajetunmobi in the now deleted post captured by Premium Times, had claimed that the majority of the arsonists who set fire to Television Continental (TVC) during the #EndSARS protests had been “hunted down and executed.”
“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.
“One of them, a young boy trading in cooking gas around Ketu, was found with AK-47 at the site. Even his neighbours were shocked. But the full gist is better saved for later,” he said in the now deleted post.
Ajetunmobi later attempted to clarify his remarks, claiming that the deaths occurred in a gunfight with soldiers, following a question raised by an X user.
“Lol… you want to create a narrative in your head. What is extra-judicial killing here? Some of the people were chased by soldiers and an exchange of fire occurred. Then arsonists were overpowered and killed in the process. Others ran away. Is that an extra-judicial killing to you?,” he said.
However, the Lagos State Government said Ajetunmobi was suspended for misrepresentation of fact, despite reports of killings during the EndSars protests.
The statement noted that Sanwo-Olu’s administration did not support any form of extra-judicial killings.
“Mr. Ajetunmobi’s suspension comes on the heels of the misrepresentation of facts on his personal X account on a past incident.
”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,” the statement read.
The ICIR reported that in the wake of the ENDSARS protest in 2020, the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government repeatedly denied accusations of extrajudicial killings and violence against citizens during the protests.
According to Amnesty International, which joined other concerned institutions and rights advocates home and abroad to condemn the crackdown, not less than 12 protesters were killed during the shooting.
Since the #EndSARS protests, many of the movement’s leaders have been arrested and tortured, their bank accounts frozen, while many others have fled into exile.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: umustapha@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M