Loatsad Promomedia Limited has said that it switched off the billboard at the Lekki Toll gate on Tuesday in obedience to the curfew announced by the Lagos state government.
The company disclosed this in a statement issued on its Instagram page on Wednesday, hours after soldiers shot at protesters at the toll gate, which had served as one of the venues of the #ENDSARS protesters in the state.
The media company, owned by Seyi Tinubu, a son of former governor of the state and national leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, had been accused of deliberately switching off the billboard so that the soldiers could use the cover of the dark to carry out extra-judicial killings of protesters.
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However, the company denied the allegation in the statement, stating that it supported the #ENDSARS movement and had no prior knowledge of the attack on protesters.
“On Tuesday when the curfew was announced we heeded the governor’s warnings and didn’t want our staff in any danger, hence by 3pm our staff had been ordered to leave the site and the board was switched off based on the governor’s curfew request.
“We had no idea what was going to happen and we feel the same anguish, pain and shock at the events that unfolded and our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and families of this ungodly act
“We believe in this movement and that it was the start of the change our generation needed to move our country forward and we will continue to support the youths of this great nation,” the company noted in the statement.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW
When we started in 2014, we had a plan to change the perception of African start-ups in the global space. We believed as Africans, we could create something great and we set out with a N4m loan from a bank and we started trading, going from door to door begging for work and relentlessly grew the business employing and empowering over 200 Nigerians today directly or indirectly. We have supported many upcoming businesses, artists, people in need as giving back to our community has always been our passion (all this can be verified).
All of our achievements thus far have come the from hard work, sweat and determination of our work force and everything Loatsad has been doing has been open, all taxes are remitted and payments to agencies and regulatory bodies have been timely, so we can be proud to say we are contributing the growth of the industry and Nation.
When the “EndSars” and “say no to police brutality” protests started from day one we wholly supported the movement and used all our platforms to promote the messages (I believe the promoters can verify this information) as we believed in the cause.
On Tuesday when the curfew was announced we heeded the governors warnings and didn’t want our staff in any danger, hence by 3pm our staff had been ordered to leave the site and the board was switched off based on the governors curfew request.
We had no idea what was going to happen and we feel the same anguish, pain and shock at the events that unfolded and our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and families of this ungodly act.
We believe in this movement and that it was the start of the change our generation needed to move our country forward and we will continue to support the youths of this great nation.
#endsars #endsarsbrutality #endsarsnow
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