At about 6:45 pm on 20 October 2020, soldiers opened fire on protesters at the Lekki toll gate. The protesters were sitting down and singing the national anthem. DJ Switch was streaming it live on Instagram. Six years later, there’s still no agreed death toll and no one has been charged.
In the two weeks before that, the government had made more promises than it usually makes in a year. Here’s what happened to them.
SARS was Disbanded, But the Officers Weren’t
On 11 October 2020, Inspector-General Mohammed Adamu dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in all 36 states and the FCT. Two days later, the police announced SWAT as its replacement.
The name went, but the officers stayed in the force and were moved into other units. In October 2025, the coalition that came out of the protests said SARS had only been rebranded, and that torture, extortion, and arbitrary detention were still happening under different names.
The Police Act
The Police Act 2020 is often counted as a #EndSARS win, but the dates don’t support that. President Buhari signed it on 16 September 2020, three weeks before the protests started. It replaced a colonial-era law, banned the police from arresting relatives in place of a suspect, and requires officers to tell a detainee’s family about an arrest.
Those rules are real, but five years later, activists were still asking the Justice Ministry to gazette the revised police regulations under the Act.
The Panel Called it a Massacre, While the Government Cried “Fake News”
Lagos’s judicial panel, chaired by retired Justice Doris Okuwobi, sat for a year. On 15 November 2021, it submitted a 309-page report. It found that the Army fired on unarmed protesters and called what happened at the toll gate a massacre.
Eight days later, Information Minister Lai Mohammed called the report “nothing but the triumph of fake news”.
The White Paper and Outstanding Recommendations
The Lagos State government released its white paper on 30 November 2021. Of the panel’s 32 recommendations, it accepted 11 in full, accepted 6 with changes, rejected 1, and sent 14 to the federal government on the grounds that they were outside its powers. It also said the evidence did not establish “arbitrary and indiscriminate killing”.
In other words, the state accepted about a third of what its own panel recommended, and referred nearly half to Abuja, which had already rejected the report.
Lagos has paid at least ₦410 million to 70 victims and their families. Elsewhere, payments depended on the state. Kwara paid ₦180 million and Ekiti ₦21 million. Bayelsa’s ₦21 billion award was still unpaid in 2022. The family of Jimoh Isiaka, the 21-year-old shot dead in Ogbomoso on 10 October 2020 and the first protester killed, say they have received nothing.
Nobody Has Been Charged
No soldier or police officer has been charged in court over Lekki.
On 10 July 2024, the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice found Nigeria liable for violations at the toll gate, including failing to investigate and failing to provide a remedy. It awarded damages to three applicants, among them DJ Switch (Obianuju Udeh). Activists say Nigeria still hasn’t paid.
The Toll Gate
The Lekki Toll Gate was once a busy toll collection point before it became the site of the October 20, 2020 #EndSARS shooting, when security forces opened fire on protesters, killing and injuring people. The plaza was later vandalised, and in February 2021, the Lagos State Judicial Panel approved its handover to the operators for assessment and repairs.
However, toll collection had not resumed as of March 2024, according to the Lagos State Government. Every October 20, the site becomes a focus of remembrance, often under heavy security. In previous years, Nigerians have gathered there to honour those affected by the shooting, laying flowers and holding memorial protests, some of which have ended in arrests and clashes with security forces.
Mourning Has Been Policed Too
In July 2025, the Federal High Court in Lagos awarded ₦10 million against the IGP and the Lagos Commissioner of Police over harassment at the 2024 memorial procession. At the 2025 memorial, Enough is Enough’s Yemi Adamolekun was reportedly harassed while laying flowers at the toll gate. Today, the Nigeria Police fired tear gas at opposition governorship candidates Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour and Funsho Doherty, alongside activists, journalists, and other Nigerians gathered at the Lekki Toll Gate to mark the sixth-year memorial.
