Nigerian songwriter and musician, Obianuju Catherine Udeh popularly known as Dj Switch has admitted that the decision of #EndSARS protesters to drop victims of Lekki massacre at the feet of killer soldiers was ill-advised.
The Disk Jockey, who was present when soldiers shot at peaceful protesters in Lekki, Lagos, on Tuesday, said killer soldiers threw victims of the massacre into their vans after their dead bodies were delivered by protesters.
These were revealed by the artiste via a video shared on her Instagram handle as part of efforts geared towards debunking claims that Lekki massacre never happened because bodies of victims are yet to be found.
According to her, no fewer than 15 people lost their lives during the incident while many others were injured by stray bullets.
“Something I think about in hindsight that I wished we hadn’t done was that we carried dead bodies and dropped them at the feet of the soldiers when I asked their unit commander why they are killing us.
“I wished we didn’t do that because they ended up throwing the bodies into their vans,” she said in the video.
Dj Switch also displayed spent bullets allegedly recovered from the scene of the shooting.
It is worthwhile to note that the artiste statement appears to be the clearest explanations of events that transpired before 9 p.m at Lekki.
The celebrity and winner of the first edition of The Glo X Factor in 2013, was physically present at the scene of the massacre, live-streaming the protest and the shooting until she could no longer continue.
See video of Dj Switch narrating her experience below.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian army has denied shooting the protesters despite glaring evidence antithetical to their claims.
On his part, the Governor of Lagos State Sanwo-Olu has only admitted that two people died from the shooting.
The Lekki shooting has been a subject of global outrage, drawing the ire of Nigerians while members of the international community and the ICC have reacted.
Below is a transcript of her narrative:
“Yes there were soldiers but the other part that people are not talking about is that SARS, the police also came some 40, 45 minutes after the soldiers left. We were teargassed, it’s like Cotonou pepper mixed with acid. People were running, we would run, we would come back.
The only thing we fought with was our flags. We sat on the floor waving our flags and singing the national anthem that was all we had. They turned off the street lights even if there is no power on a good day on that axis, there is always light on a good day, there was no light, the street lights were off, it was pitch black.
A boy jumped on me and was shouting ‘‘cover her, cover her I didn’t even understand why he did that. They shot that boy on my back. I fell and while the soldiers were running around and trying to pick their shells, the soilers were also picking their shells, these are some of the shells we picked.
The military was there on Nigerian soil, killing Nigerian citizens, the SARS came aiming and shooting live bullets at us. Who takes live bullets to a protest? The leaders I urge to not insult the intelligence of Nigerians and their families.
Something I think about in hindsight that I wished we hadn’t done was that we carried dead bodies and dropped them at the feet of the soldiers when I asked their unit commander why they are killing us. I wished we didn’t do that because they ended up throwing the bodies into their vans.
Please I never said 78 died, when I was doing the live seven had died, after my phone died, we had 15, I don’t know if they were more than that but we had a lot of people with stray bullet wounds. I condemn the burning of buses, I’m definitely going to come back and be on the streets protesting peacefully. We must continue. If we stop, I fear it must be 60 years before we can. We need accountability that is at the heart of this matter. We must speak, do not give up”.
