They teargassed Lekki again, six years after we buried our own

Police fired tear gas at the Lekki tollgate on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, scattering the wreath-laying memorial organised by Enough is Enough. Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the ADC and Funso Doherty of the NDC were caught in the fumes. Journalists were caught too. People ran, people struggled to breathe, traffic piled up along the expressway.

The organisers brought 15 wreaths. One of them was for Pelumi Onifade, the journalist shot dead during the 2020 protests. They never got to lay them. Six years after soldiers opened fire at that same tollgate, and the state's answer to a memorial is still canisters. CISLAC said it plainly: "Disbanding SARS without dismantling impunity is not police reform." Auwal Musa Rafsanjani added that torture, extortion and deaths in custody have continued regardless.

Atiku Abubakar asked the question that has no answer: "Who gave the order?" Peter Obi said, "We must never forget. We must never normalise injustice." A judicial panel confirmed nine deaths and listed four missing and presumed dead, and the federal authorities still dispute the findings. So I ask you: if a government cannot let you lay flowers without tear gas, what exactly has been reformed since 2020?