For many Nigerians, the manner in which #EndSARs, a youth movement demanding an end to police brutality in Nigeria snowballed to become a global agitation embraced by world leaders remains a trailblazing record in Nigeria’s history.
The hydra-headed protest which began on 8 October 2020 as a conduit for Nigerians to vent their anger against the hated police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) also conveyed several institutional issues affecting Nigeria – the protest was peaceful, well organised, and very sophisticated that it became a challenge for the government to infiltrate, especially because of its ‘leaderless’ structure.
Though leaderless, #EndSARs with its Yoruba slogan ‘SoroSoke’ (Which means, ‘Speak up!’ ) spread to almost every part of the country like wildfire; seized the top spot of hashtags trending in the world, attracted global media and world leaders’ attention, and eventually became a massive campaign backed by international overseas megastars such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Cardi B, Kanye, and Drake, among others.
For about two weeks that the protest lasted, it was a fun-filled, carnival-like gathering with heavy lights, loud music, dance, and more but the light of the ‘party’ dimmed on 20 October at Lekki Toll Gate, after soldiers opened fire on the peaceful protesters in Lagos.
In this report, NewsCLickng will be x-raying all the flip sides of the #EndSARs protests, with a special focus on dynamisms such as entertainments on protest grounds, looting, and the unraveling of secret warehouses for Covid-19 palliatives across Nigeria.
Background of #ENDSARs protest
The #EndSARS movement dates back to 2017, where Nigerian youths used the hashtag to share their experiences on violence and assault perpetrated by the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad. However, the movement only revived on October 8, after a video emerged of police officers thought to be members of the SARS unit, allegedly killing an unarmed young man.
This prompted Nigerian youths to troop to Twitter, calling on the Federal Government for police reform with the hashtag, #EndSARS, #Endpolicebrutality, and many more. The hashtag trended continuously on Twitter as Nigerian youths aired their pain and experiences online.
SARS, as it is commonly known, has existed for nearly three decades. But over time, its critics say, the unit has developed a reputation for abusing its power.
Under the growing pressure of the #ENDSARs protest, the Nigeria Police Force announced on Oct. 11 that it had dissolved SARS and fired at least two officers in response to “the yearnings of the Nigerian people,”.
However, the #ENDSARs advocates rejected the force’s plan to redeploy members of the unit in other jobs.
The protest was escalated and arrested nationwide on October, 20 after the Nigerian army and police opened fire into a crowd of protesters who had gathered at Lagos’s Lekki toll gate while imposing the 24-hour curfew imposed by Lagos State Government – several protesters were wounded and two-person have been declared dead.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to reform and urged citizens to be patient as leaders overhauled the national law enforcement system.
“Your voice has been heard loud and clear, and we are responding,” Buhari said.
The government vowed to work with human rights groups on a new model and investigate atrocities of the past, telling people to come forward if they had ever endured hostilities at the hands of a Nigerian officer.
Wings of #ENDSARs protest: Social media, free data, food, alcohol, music, solid fundraising, celebrities
Usually, protest in Nigeria are often underfunded, monotonous, and boring but the entertainment winged #EndSARs was able to beat the said challenge. With the success recorded by the organisers of the ‘SoroSoke’ protest, it is now well proven that good funding and entertainment are today key weapons needed to energise protesters.
Most of the protest grounds in several states adopted this strategy to energise protesters who were always in very ‘high’ spirits as music, alcohol, and tobacco flowed freely.
Since the beginning of the current #EndSARS protests some Nigerian songs have been played repeatedly at the venues of the demonstrations. Some of the tracks that include Davido’s ‘Fem’; African China’s, Mr. President; Fela’s Shuffering and Shmiling; Femi Kuti’s Sorry, Sorry; Idris Abdulkareem’s Jaga Jaga among a host of others.
While mainstream media were cautious about the coverage of the protest one can’t ignore how the amplification role played by Nigerian celebrities and social media influencers gave the m0vement a quick lift. Among the celebrities who led the race include, Wizkid, Falz, Davido, Runtown, DJ Switch, several others.
Apart from the food supply, alcohol, and music, there are also other games and activities lined up to ensure the protesters get some sort of convenience while at the venue. There is a snooker board at the venue and some of the protesters also organised a big screen to watch the premier league games.
The protesters were formidable, the spirit of solidarity amongst them transcends religious boundaries, while Christians had pastors come to do special prayer on the protest ground, the Muslims amongst them who observed their regular Friday prayer openly at the Lekki Toll Gate and on Lagos State Assembly road, both of which had been grounded by protesters since the protests began last week.
EndSarsMuslim Protesters praying at the Lekki Toll Gate
Not joking about their strength on social media, where they disseminate their agenda and programmes, the #EndSars protesters apart from sharing free data, airtime to Nigerian youths who were active online were able to set up solar charging spots to keep their phones, camera, other mobile gadgets powered during demonstrations.
Besides raising awareness about police brutality and coordinating protests on the ground, the SoroSoke generation used social media to connect with volunteers, accept donations from other parts of the world and publish accounts of disbursed funds through frequent updates.
Information about emergency helplines and ways to circumvent a potential internet shutdown also spread freely and widely in this space.
There is no gainsaying that the #ENDSARs movement was baptised in social media before its massive ascension on Nigerian streets – social media allowed users with varying numbers of followers to advance the project.
Wondering how the leaderless protest was able to fund the aforesaid welfare and entertainment provisions for thousands of protesters nationwide? The answer isn’t farfetched, The Feminist Coalition, one of the groups that championed peaceful #EndSARS protests were able to raise enough funds to cater to the needs of protesters.
In mid-October, the movement got a big boost after Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, who used the #EndSARS hashtag as he posted a donation link associated with the Feminist Coalition, one of the most prominent groups supporting protesters on the ground.
According to reports published on the official website of The Feminist, “The coalition managed to raise nearly N148 million since it began its fundraising campaign …, despite reportedly having their bank account frozen at the demand of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – instead, switching to taking donations in cryptocurrency bitcoin.”
The extremely detailed spreadsheet of information that details its spending shows that the group has so far disbursed over N60 million to a variety of individuals and organisations, including to pay for protesters’ legal fees, medical fees, and security.
The remaining N88 million, it said will be used to fund five causes, namely, medical assistance, legal assistance, financial aid to victims of police brutality, a “memorial for the fallen” and mental health support.
Apart from The Feminst, support also came to the protesters from corporate bodies, religious organizations, and individuals.
Troubled by the magnitude of #ENDSARs protests, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed on October 27, 2020 urged the Nigerian government to consider regulating social media.
The minister stated this while responding to questions when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values to defend the 2021 budget proposal.
Mohammed in a specific reference to the recent #ENDSARS protest said most of the battle was fought on social media.
His words: ”They mobilised using social media. The war today revolves around two things. Smartphones and data and these young men don’t even watch television or listen to the radio or read newspapers. We are sitting on a time bomb on this issue of fake news. Unfortunately, we have no national policy on social media and we need one. When we went to China, we could not get google, Facebook, and Instagram. You could not even use your email in China because they made sure it is censored and well regulated,” he said.
EndSARS jokes:
Though Nigerians on social media expressed disappointment at the handling of the #ENDSARS protest by the government, they, however, still managed to find some solace in humor from it, with some people sharing funny videos and memes, as well as expressing their desire to relocate to other countries as crisis linger on.
One can’t also look away from protesters who became famous by carrying placards with funny inscriptions like, ‘Na Guy wey come protest we go give doggy” ‘Na SARS collect my babe’ ‘#ENDSARS make i see husband marry’ ‘I know wan hear say SARs don kill my future husband’ ‘Drop gun, come 1 on 1; if I no commot your teeth just now’
Inspector Fashola, the height of the #ENDSARS jokes! Former governor of Lagos and now minister for works and housing, Raji Fashola became the biggest butt of jokes after he found a Camcorder at the Lekki Toll Gate on days after the shootings.
Fashola, who erroneously called the small camera, a CCTV and gingerly picked it from where it openly sat, became a trending issue on Twitter.
Some call him Inspector Fashola.
One commenter said he is now “Detective Fashola Holmes”, after the famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.
Another said Fashola is now the Jack Bauer of Ikoyi, never mind that Fashola carried out his controversial detective work in Victoria Island.
Bauer is a fictional character, an FBI agent and the lead protagonist of the Fox Television series 24.
Fashola is also now called 007 Fashola, after James Bond, Agent 007.
And another tweet said he forgot his CIA badge at Lekki.
How ENDSARs exposes the depth of the hunger crisis in Nigeria
Hunger, which appeared to be a longstanding silent crisis in Nigeria also took became a front-burner issue in amid the protest. Hungry mobs of Nigerians overrun several government-owned warehouses and looted food meant to be distributed during this year’s coronavirus lockdowns
Almost a third of Nigeria’s 36 states and the capital have seen stores attacked by looters.
People have died, crushed as they crowded into the warehouses or in some instances under the weight of the 50kg bags of food.
But the explanation has not been accepted by many of those who did not receive any aid from the authorities in the months when the lockdown to limit the spread of coronavirus stopped millions of people from earning their living.
That some of the Covid-19 aid has been found in the homes of some politicians has not helped the authorities.
A lawmaker, Sanai Agunbiade aka SOB, whose house was raided in Lagos state, said he was planning to share the items on his birthday – two days after his home was looted.
The federal government has been accused of misappropriating the funds, the bulk of which had been contributed by some of the country’s wealthiest people and businesses.
But one of the daughters of the president, Zahra Buhari, posted on Instagram that the discovery of the undistributed aid in the warehouses showed that her father had spent the money properly.
“Now that people confirmed that [President Muhammadu] Buhari distributed enough palliatives nationwide, it is clear Buhari is not our problem,” she posted.
END NOTE: Story republished to mark 1st anniversary of #EndSARS protest
