By Joel Gwom,
As Nigerians mark the sixth anniversary of the Lekki Toll Gate massacre, human rights group, Global Rights, has called on the Federal Government to ensure accountability for the killings during the #EndSARS protests.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, and signed by its Executive Director, Abiodun Baiyewu, the organization said at least 135 protesters were extrajudicially killed across the country during the #EndSARS protest.
Global Rights said it was concerning that six years after the tragic event, accountability commensurate with the gravity of the atrocities committed is still elusive.
According to the group, the demands that brought Nigerians to the streets in 2020 remain largely unmet, while the pattern of impunity has persisted.
The organization recalled that during the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests, it documented the killing of at least 31 protesters by Police across several states and the arbitrary arrest of 1,135 protesters, including children as young as 13, without accountability to date.
It added that since that incident, it has recorded at least 545 extrajudicial killings by security forces across the country.
“The repression and continued use of excessive force against protesters, the killing of citizens exercising their constitutional and fundamental human rights, and the continued brazen impunity for security personnel responsible for such violations further expose the hollowness of claims that the grievances that gave rise to #EndSARS have been adequately addressed,” the statement said.
Global Rights noted that in spite of forensic evidence captured on live video footage, the government brazenly denied the Lekki shooting, but the Lagos State Judicial Panel set up to investigate the incident in 2021 found the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force complicit in the shooting of unarmed protesters.
It said the Panel made recommendations for accountability, compensation, and security-sector reform, but the Lagos State Government subsequently rejected key findings of the report.
Similarly, the group said in 2024, the ECOWAS Court of Justice found the Nigerian state culpable of human rights violations arising from the incident and ordered a new investigation, prosecution of those responsible, and compensation for victims. Yet, two years after the judgment, it has not been fully implemented.
The group further recalled that on October 20, 2024, Police officers harassed and arrested protesters observing a solemn assembly to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the shootings at Lekki Toll Gate.
To extricate the nation from the vicious cycle, Global Rights demanded that the Federal Government:
- Immediately implement the ECOWAS Court judgment on the Lekki massacre;
- Create public platforms for transparency around accountability for the Lekki shootings and other extrajudicial atrocities;
- Urgently and effectively make reparations for victims and their families; and
- Guarantee the right to peaceful assembly.
It further demanded that the Lagos State Government publicly account for its response to the Judicial Panel of Inquiry’s recommendations, specifying what has been implemented, what remains outstanding, and the steps required to give effect to the recommendations it accepted.
“Six years ago, we promised to stand with the victims and their families however long it takes for the arc of the moral universe to bend towards justice. Global Rights has not reneged on this promise,” Baiyewu said.
“We honour the courage of those who stood up and keep standing for their rights and reaffirm that no state institution is above the law.”