The Lagos State Judicial Panel probing the October 2020 Lekki Toll Gate shootings has heard that the cartridge casings retrieved from the area of the incident are of the same calibre as the live ammunition of the Nigerian Army.
A forensic expert from Sentinel Forensics Ltd, Joseph Kayode, stated this as part of his ballistic report of the forensic investigation of the incident.
The army on November 14, 2020, through then Commander of 81 Division of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Ibrahim Taiwo, denied that soldiers shot #EndSARS protesters with live bullets.
Its claims were backed by the Federal Government.
Taiwo presented samples of blank and live ammunition to the panel, insisting that the soldiers fired only blanks in the air to disperse protesters.
About six bullet shells were said to have been recovered from the scene of the incident.
The exhibits recovered by the panel and those presented by the Nigerian Army were presented to the forensic team for ballistic investigation.
“The live ammunition presented by the Nigerian Army is of the same calibre as the cartridge casing submitted by the judicial panel,” Kayode said.
He also noted that the blanks submitted by the panel did not match the records from the Army’s inventory.
“While the blank ammunition submitted by the Nigerian Army is not of the same calibre as the cartridge casings submitted by the Judicial Panel.
“The blank ammunition submitted by the Nigerian Army is not designed to be fired by rifles chambered to 7.62 x 39mm.”
The panel’s chairperson Justice Doris Okuwobi (Retd) adjourned till Saturday.