DJ Switch, the woman whose live Instagram feed during the Lekki shooting was watched by hundreds of thousands of people across the world, has recounted the events that occurred at the toll gate Tuesday night for the first time.
In a harrowing 10-minute clip posted to her Instagram page, DJ Switch said she wanted “to clear what’s been happening online.”
She said at least 15 people were killed, and that she and other survivors took the victims’ bodies to the soldiers who took them away.
“…We had 15 [bodies], I don’t know if they were more than that but we had a lot of people with stray bullet wounds,” DJ Switch said.
“Something I think about in hindsight that I wished we hadn’t done was that we carried dead bodies and dropped them at the feet of the soldiers, when I asked their wing commander why they are killing us.
“I wished we didn’t do that because they ended up throwing the bodies into their vans,” she said.
She also displayed spent bullets she recovered from the scene of the shooting.
The artiste confirmed that electricity was cut moments before the attack, and that the police, including the dreaded – and disbanded – Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), arrived on the scene after the soldiers left.
“People were falling left and right,” she said.
“Yes, there were soldiers there. Another part people are not really talking about. The police also came. The SARS people…they also came. Some maybe 40 or 45 minutes after the soldiers left.”
The musician, tearing up, said the protesters were teargassed and the only thing they “fought with” were flags.
“We would sit on the floor and raise our flags up and sing the national anthem. That’s all we had,” she said.
Tuesday’s attack has drawn international condemnation but the Nigerian army has denied any involvement.
In his address to the nation two days after on Thursday night, President Buhari did not allude to the attack, or mention the victims of the shootings.
DJ Switch called on the Nigerian government to address the incident.
“To our leaders, I urge you, please do not minimize the suffering of families. Do not insult the grief of Nigerians, do not insult the intelligence of Nigerians, do not insult the pain that families are facing,” she said.
DJ Switch’s live video was watched by more than 140,000 people on Instagram, and served as first-hand evidence of the shooting and its aftermath.
There are calls for a thorough investigation and inquiry into the incident.