Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, is getting dragged on the internet for picking up a camera at the scene of the Lekki shooting of October 20, 2020.
The footage of the minister picking up the camera with all the care in the world, and with the aid of a black piece of cloth, has since gone viral.
Soldiers had arrived at the Lekki toll on the night and fired live rounds into a crowd of peaceful protesters, after the lights were turned off and cameras were reportedly switched off.
The Nigerian state hasn’t owned up to the attack, with Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu saying the shooting was masterminded by “forces beyond his control.”
The shooting sparked outrage in Nigeria and in the international community, and led to the burning of buildings and government property in Lagos and elsewhere across the country in the days that followed.
Looters also took advantage of the ensuing breakdown of law and order to break into warehouses and businesses, while carting away goods and food items for effect.
On Sunday, October 25, 2020, ministers, governors and legislators from the southwest region paid a visit to Governor Sanwo-Olu to sympathize with him on the carnage that has reduced the country’s commercial capital to rubble.
The entourage went round the city for a first hand feel of burnt houses and property. At the Lekki toll where the shooting occurred, Fashola had picked up a camera that was hiding in plain sight.
Twitter users are wondering how the camera was left there for Fashola to sight and pick up, given that the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) had combed and cleaned up the entire area just hours prior.
Television crews and miscreants had also spent enormous time on the scene of the shooting days before and not one of them saw a camera.
Fashola has now earned for himself the nicknames ‘Sherlock Holmes’ (after the fictional television detective character), 'Jack Bauer' and ‘Detective Fashola’ on Twitter for the camera-picking stunt; and the #FasholaChallenge has been born.
Here are a few tweets on the ‘Nigerian Sherlock Holmes’....
Nigerians play too much.