A professor of political economy and management expert, Pat Utomi, has narrated how security operatives opened fire at the #EndSARS protest venue in the Lekki area of Lagos State.
Utomi, who lives very close to the toll gate area where the protest has held peacefully for about two weeks, said he was having a telephone conversation before the incident occurred.
“I live not very far from the Lekki Toll Gate and I was on the deck of the house and I was actually speaking to somebody in the United States,” he told Channels Television on Tuesday evening.
He narrated, “I have just finished speaking with a Nigerian diplomat friend here in Lagos, analysing the strategy and wondering if it was not really a worrisome strategy to take an ultimatum of how we are going to have a 24-hour curfew, bearing in mind that the young people are already accusing the authorities of being the ones sending the hoodlums so they can trigger a reason for attacking them.”
“I just finished discussing that with this Nigerian diplomat and I was talking to somebody in the US when I heard the siren, and I was wondering siren?
“It just kept going and suddenly I heard ‘pa pa pa pa pa pa’ – gunfire, and I said, ‘oh my God, they are shooting at these kids’. I could hear them saying, ‘kneel down, they are shooting at us,” Utomi added.
He advised federal and state authorities to be very careful in addressing the issues raised by the protesting youths.
According to the economist, the youths of Nigeria have become a global tribe and are all over the world.
He warned that the youths could run an asymmetrical war against the authorities in Nigeria if they don’t manage the situation carefully.