Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The cause of the shooting is still under investigation
The revelation that CCTV footage was not used to search for the van driver at the centre of the Lekki toll gate shooting has raised further questions about what really happened.
One witness said the driver, the only person to be shot in Saturday’s incident, was shot repeatedly after being forced into his vehicle by about 10 men.
But the Nigerian authorities, who set up an investigation after the incident, have insisted the shooting was justified.
Suspicions of corruption in the force which regulates the authorities in charge of the authorities were only heightened by comments made by the Chief Medical Director of the Onikan Hospital where the shooting occurred.
Photo: Reuters
Pledging on Sunday that the state authorities would “do their best” to find out what happened, Dr Olaokun Taiwo said he had no idea if police were looking for the vehicle.
“As of now, it is impossible to know the identity of the driver at the toll gate,” he said.
In a statement issued on Monday, a police spokesman said footage, from the toll gate itself, showed “one individual, who is at the time identified as ‘the driver’, managing his vehicle himself and allowing policemen to pass by.”
Photo: AP
It added that the “driver was seen with his vehicle stopped at the toll gate area, the door opened for the occupants of the highway patrol vehicles, at which time other men in military fatigue and orderly bearers rushed out of their vehicles, discharging at least a dozen shots at the vehicle.
“At this time, the driver returned fire,” the statement said.
The incident remains under investigation. Police officials said the driver who was injured was expected to undergo surgery on Monday.
Highway police officers say they stopped the vehicle of the Lagos State House of Assembly members because they were suspects in a robbery on the Lagos-Abuja expressway.
Victims of the robbery told Reuters the shooting had gone far beyond the suspected armed robbery.
Police said that “logistical and in-depth investigation will be carried out on the incident”.