Our Reporter, New York
Nigerian-born investigation journalist, David Hundeyin, has described how the United States and other Western countries turned a blind eye to the killing of unarmed protesters in Lekki by the Muhammadu Buhari administration during the 2020 EndSars protests.
He made the revelation during an appearance on the popular online interview programme 90Minutes Africa hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo.
The founder of the West African Weekly newsletter, narrated how he attempted to contact officials in the US and Western embassies in Lagos in the aftermath of the Lekki massacre but was met with grave silence.
“After the Lekki massacre, for example, it was widely expected, based on their position on human rights and civil liberties, that the US government and its affiliate organisations in the civic space would, at the very least, issue some sort of very strongly worded condemnation of what happened but instead what we had was radio silence across the board,” the award-winning journalist said.
On the night of October 20, 2020, the Nigerian army forcefully dispersed hundreds of youths who had occupied the Lekki Toll Gate protesting against police harassment. They fired live bullets at the protesting youths who were singing the national anthem and waving the national flag, killing many people in what became known as the Lekki massacre.
David Hundeyin was forced to escape from Nigeria after he came under threat from the Nigerian authorities following his reporting on the event.
“I left Nigeria on November 6, 2020, a few weeks after the Lekki massacre,” the author of the book “The Jungle: A Personal Journey With The Enfant Terrible Of Nigerian Journalism,” revealed.
“Between November 6, when I left Nigeria, and around March of the next year, I reached out to everyone I knew in the US embassy and other Western embassies in Nigeria, asking why are they not saying anything about the murder of hundreds of innocent, unarmed civilian protesters on the street by the government,” Hundeyin reported.
“I used a lot of energy getting across to people within the diplomatic space, and eventually, the one time I got any kind of response, it wasn’t even from an American because they completely ignored me. The response came from someone who used to work for the European Union delegation to Nigeria, and what he said was that the Western countries were only concerned about the stability of Nigeria and that they were not interested in anything that could cause any upheaval or lead to bringing down the government at the time,” he said.
“That’s when I realised that these people we think were interested in civil liberties and human rights were really not. The only thing they are really interested in is their own interest. If their interests align with yours, then they will surely be able to help you out, but if it doesn’t, then you don’t matter to them,” he continued.
He said that although the information came from an EU official, he believes it was the same reason the US government kept silent about the event.
