The Nigerian Defence Headquarters’ Director of Information, Maj. Gen. John Eneche has addressed the Lekki toll Gate shooting which was carried out on peaceful protesters in Lagos.
Speaking during a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Enenche described the report of soldiers shooting the protesters as mere allegations.
He, however, admitted that the military is involved in the internal security operations codenamed ‘Operation MESA’ in nine states, but failed to disclose further details of the joint security task force.
According to him, Operation MESA is under the control of the state governments which comprised the Army, Navy, Air Force, Civil Defence and police personnel.
“The issue is not an operation that I can respond to, but I can tell you that it is an allegation, for now; so let us not set the cart before the horse.
“If the matter was still open-ended, I would have had a response for you but it is no longer open-ended because immediately, not even up to five hours before midnight, the Governor of Lagos set up an inquiry.
“So, whatever we say now will not be fair to the commission.
“So these operations are still standing and running and I am aware that the state governments are using them in all these capacities, that is internal security.
“The level we are now is internal security and that is why the police proactively came out and then deployed all their force package that are necessary to handle that violence,” he said
