The Commander, 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo on Saturday told the Lagos State Panel of Inquiry and Restitution that the order for the deployment of soldiers to the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20 came from President Muhammadu Buhari.
Taiwo, under cross examination from the Lagos State counsel at the panel, Mr. Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN) said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu lacks the authority to give order to the army
He said the best the governor could do is to request for deployment.
The Nigerian Army stated that no one was felled by bullets fired by its men.
The army said soldiers deployed to the scene used blank bullets containing only gunpowder.
It denied shooting at or killing anyone at the scene, whether with blanks or live ammunition, contrary to claims by several petitioners and protesters.
Some #ENDSARS protesters and human rights groups had claimed that soldiers killed and carted away bodies of several protesters.
The Commander said if the soldiers had used lethal bullets, each one would have killed at least three persons.
The resumption of sitting by the panel yesterday followed the return of the two youth panel members, Rinu Oduala and Temitope Majekodunmi, who abstained last week in protest against the freezing of the bank account of #ENDSARS promoters by the Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria.