The Presidency has fired back at former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar over his demand for justice for victims of the October 2020 #EndSARS protests.
Dada Olusegun, Special Assistant to Tinubu on Social Media, said the President also suffered personal consequences during the protests.
He argued that Atiku was unfairly blaming the president for an incident that occurred when he was still a private citizen.
Olusegun made the remarks in a post on X while responding to Atiku’s comments on the sixth anniversary of the shootings at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), had demanded answers about the circumstances surrounding the shootings, questioning who authorised the use of force against the protesters.
The former vice-president also criticised the government’s handling of the incident and accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of failing to address questions that have persisted since the protests.
However, Tinubu’s aide accused Atiku of raising the issue for political reasons, arguing that the former vice-president had opportunities to question former President Muhammadu Buhari about the incident during their meetings in 2024 and 2025.
Addressing Atiku directly, Olusegun wrote: “Alhaji,
“In case you have forgotten, we have not. On the 22nd of June 2024, you visited late former President Buhari in his hometown of Daura. Less than a year later, on the 11th of April 2025, you visited him again at his retirement home in Kaduna, renovated by President Tinubu.
“Those two opportunities presented you with chances to ask former President Buhari, who was President at the time of the Lekki Toll Gate protests, the questions you are now asking President Tinubu.”
Olusegun argued that Atiku’s decision to raise the questions six years after the incident showed that his intervention was motivated by his ambition to become president rather than concern for the victims.
“That it took you six years to ask these questions is a testament to your insincerity and desperation to become President. Nigerians are not fools, they know you do not care about them; you only care about your inordinate ambition,” he stated.
The presidential aide also recalled the impact of the protests on Tinubu, who was not president when the shootings occurred in October 2020.
According to him, Tinubu’s residence on Bourdillon Road in Lagos was almost razed during the unrest, forcing the then-former Lagos State governor to flee with his domestic staff for safety.
Olusegun further claimed that Tinubu faced harassment, cyberbullying, insults and curses during the protests, describing him as one of the people who suffered from the fallout of the demonstrations.
“In case your memory is failing you, sir, may I remind you that President Tinubu, who was an ordinary citizen in 2020, suffered perhaps more than anyone else during the protests. His Bourdillon home was almost razed, and he and his domestic staff fled for safety. He was harassed, cyberbullied, insulted, and cursed,” he wrote.
The aide also challenged the use of the expression “Lekki Massacre” to describe the shootings, arguing that the incident had not been conclusively established as a massacre through legal proceedings.
“Furthermore, using the phrase ‘Lekki Massacre’ to score cheap political points ignores the fact that a definitive, legally established massacre remains unproven to this day, with forensic evidence and multi-agency investigations heavily contradicting the initial social media casualty figures,” Olusegun stated.
He accused Atiku of misrepresenting the events of October 2020 to attack Tinubu politically, arguing that the President was being blamed for a tragedy that occurred when he was not the country’s leader.
“Twisting the complex tragedy of 2020 to pin it on a man who was himself a primary financial and political victim of the fallout is uncharitable and mean-spirited,” he added.
Olusegun further accused the former vice-president of using the anniversary of the shootings to revive his economic proposals and gain political support ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
He described Atiku’s intervention as an attempt to draw political advantage from the grief surrounding the incident, while questioning the viability of the former vice-president’s presidential ambition.
“This is your final attempt at the Presidency of Nigeria, and it is tragic to watch you throw everything against the wall just to see what sticks. Good luck on a journey that is clearly headed to a dead end!” he wrote.
Atiku had earlier called on the Federal Government to provide clear answers about the Lekki Toll Gate shootings, particularly the question of who authorised the deployment of force against protesters demanding an end to police brutality.
In his anniversary message, the former vice-president said the government could not continue to commemorate the victims without addressing the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
“The APC has governed Nigeria through these six years. It cannot keep asking Nigerians to remember the dead while refusing to confront the unanswered questions,” he said.
Atiku also linked the unresolved questions surrounding the shootings to the economic difficulties facing young Nigerians, citing rising fuel prices, declining purchasing power and limited employment opportunities.
He argued that the cost of living had made it increasingly difficult for some workers to meet basic expenses, including transportation, food, education and housing.
The ADC presidential candidate also outlined aspects of his proposed Economic Recovery Plan, which he said would focus on supporting domestic fuel production, increasing local production, protecting minimum-wage earners, assisting students and reducing government waste.
Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), also demanded justice for victims of the shootings in a separate message marking the sixth anniversary of the protests.
Obi described the incident as a painful chapter in Nigeria’s history and said the country must not forget the lives lost or the questions about accountability that followed the violence.
“On that fateful night, peaceful #EndSARS protesters were met with gunfire. Lives were lost, many were injured, and the nation was left with questions about justice, accountability, and the sanctity of human life,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor warned against normalising injustice and called for a country where citizens could demand good governance without fear of violence.
“We must never forget. We must never normalise injustice,” Obi stated.
He also expressed hope that the sacrifices made by the protesters would encourage Nigeria to protect citizens’ rights and prevent a similar tragedy in the future.
The #EndSARS protests began in October 2020, with young Nigerians demonstrating against police brutality and demanding reforms to the operations of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The shootings at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020, became one of the most controversial episodes of the protests, generating widespread public outrage.