Content Analysis of Lekki Shootings During The 2020 EndSARS Protest in Nigeria

Abstract

There have been several reports, claims and counter claims of news of military personnel shooting at unarmed EndSARS protesters, at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos state on the evening of Tuesday 20 October, 2020 which have made it difficult for both government and individuals to know the actual incident that occurred. The thrust of this study is to carry out a content analysis of four Nigeria national newspapers on the subject matter to ascertain the actual event. The study utilized the secondary method of data collection and used documents and descriptive statistics as its tools of evaluation. The study found that articles featuring unarmed protesters gathered at Lekki Toll Gate had a total occurrence of 22 and military personnel shooting at unarmed protesters at Lekki Toll gate had a total of 55 occurrences. The study concludes that endSARS protesters were gathered and were shot at by military personnel at the Lekki Toll Gate on the 20th October 2020. It thus recommended that Nigerian government look into the reasons why citizens go into protests and Nigerian Security operatives adopt modern ways of managing protests like the use of dialogue and technology and shun the use of live ammunitions to disperse protesters.