My Attempts To Reach Buhari Abortive, Says Gov Sanwo-Olu

Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu on Thursday said that he has tried to speak with President Muhammadu Buhari twice after the tragic shootings at the Lekki toll plaza on Tuesday.

He said this while answering questions on a LIVE broadcast on Arise TV.

Although he made attempts to speak directly with the President, the attempts have been unsuccessful. After his call, Sanwo-Olu was told that Buhari is yet to resume at the office and then the second time, he was informed the president is presiding over the weekly Federal Executive Council Meeting (FEC).

The governor added that he later got a call from the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin who mentioned that he was calling on the order of the President, so he believes his message must have been delivered to Buhari.

Sanwo-Olu also denied ordering the removal of CCTV cameras from the Lekki toll gate on Tuesday night, stating that only laser cameras for vehicles were removed and that security camera were still available.

According to him, the cameras captured the shooting at Lekki toll gate and will be used for Investigation.

Excerpts from the interview

“Nobody ordered the removal of cameras at the Lekki toll gate. The MD of LCC said because of the curfew, they made the decision to take out installations.”

“The cameras you saw are not security or motion cameras, they are laser cameras for vehicles.”

“The security cameras are still available, and we are using them for our security investigations.

“I made calls to want to speak with the President yesterday. First, he hadn’t come to the office and the second time he was at the FEC meeting. So indeed I haven’t spoken to him directly but I actually did call to want to speak to him.

“But like I said he was at the FEC meeting…He was actually the one that asked the Chief of Defence Staff to call me. I think it was when he got my message because when the Chief of Defence called me, he said the President asked him to call. I haven’t spoken to him directly, maybe later today that might happen. I don’t have a report to say this is what he said because we haven’t spoken.”

“Once we see the streets are cleared up and all the agitation and high nerves have gone down, we might slow down the curfew by tomorrow (Friday) or next tomorrow (Saturday) at the latest,” he said.