Popular disc jockey, Obianuju Catherine Udeh aka DJ Switch has narrated to the Canadian Parliament how soldiers shot protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on October 20.
She gave the narration while addressing the Sub-committee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the parliament, Sahara Reporters reported Monday.
DJ Switch told the Canadian lawmakers that soldiers shot at the protesters after creating a three-formation line.
She disclosed that the soldiers said they embarked on the mission based on orders from above, but did not specify whose orders.
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She said the Nigerian Army’s claims that soldiers fired blanks into the air were untrue, insisting that the soldiers shot at protesters.
DJ Switch told the lawmakers that she counted seven protesters shot by the soldiers and one of the soldiers threatened to shoot her.
She said she still found it hard to reconcile within her heart how a protest that started as a peaceful demand for an end to police brutality became an excuse for soldiers to shoot at protesters.
The DJ said the first gunshot rang out behind her, causing people to scamper for safety.
According to her, it was in this chaotic scene that the protesters were told to lie facedown on the floor in order to avoid being hit by bullets.
“As we didn’t know where the gunshots were coming from and what they are about and then the lights went off.
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“I remembered the military came in first, they stopped shooting at some point and I walked up to one of them and I asked why he was shooting at us and he said he had express order from above, and I was coming too close to him and if I come too close, it would be considered an attack on him and he would have to shoot.
“It didn’t take another ten minutes, the shooting started again. I remember seeing seven people that have been shot down and we were telling people on my live Instagram to help us call an ambulance,” she told the Canadian lawmakers.
DJ Switch said that a senior military officer later ordered the soldiers to stop shooting.
The respite was shortlived, she said, as police soon replaced soldiers to shoot at the protesters that were still at the toll gate.
She noted that she was forced into hiding since the incident following threats to her life by unidentified people.
The disc jockey said she wanted to dismiss the threats until she got information about her imminent arrest by soldiers.
“I have been on the move because they have been after my life. The first threat came in, I thought it was a joke, I sincerely thought it was a joke.
“Just as I was leaving, I got a phone call that I should leave the vicinity because there are military men at the hospital.
“I had to abandon my home, I moved from people’s home, and then just to get out of Nigeria. I am still travelling, and I am not done with my trip,” she told the lawmakers.
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