All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK) claimed that the governorship candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in Lagos, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour (GRV), burnt property and buses during the EndSARs protest in the state.
The EndSARS protest which rocked the nation in 2020 was an uprising of young people against police brutality in Nigeria.
The movement called for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuse on Nigerian citizens.
Some state-owned buses were burnt during the crisis, which the state said cost billions of naira. Fani-Kayode claims Rhodes-Vivour was one of those who burnt the buses and property in question.
Verification
CDD Election War Room found no evidence of Rhodes-Vivour burning buses and houses in Lagos.
We found that GRV, like many celebrities, had taken part in the non-violent 2020 EndSARS protest. His participation in the protest was reported by news outlets, and none of the reporting showed participation in violence.
Rhodes-Vivour indeed posted a video of buses getting burnt at a state-owned park in Lagos state, but the video does not show his participation.
Rhodes-Vivour condemned the use of violence in the protests, stating that politicians have for long used thugs to “keep my generation silent and make them stay away from politics and national discourse”.
“No…this can’t continue,” he added.
Verdict
CDD Election War Room found no evidence of GRV’s participation in violence during the 2020 EndSARS protests in Lagos. There is, therefore, no evidence to back Fani-Kayode’s claims.
Leave a Reply