Presented to African/African-American Studies Program Eastern Kentucky University by Dr Uzor Ngoladi
The #EndSARS protest was spontaneous. It was never an organized movement ab initio. It just occurred like every other revolution against the establishment. Young people in Nigeria were encountering untold brutality, extortion and exploitation from the Nigerian police. Impunity, bribery and corruption were institutionalized in the police rank and file. The average police officer can rape or kill you without any consequences.
“I will kill you and nothing will happen” became the official mantra of the Nigeria police force.
That is the reason I titled my book, #EndSARS: War Against Impunity. Apart from advocating for extensive police reforms, EndSARS as a social movement is basically a battle of freedom and emancipation from the high-level corruption in the police system and monstruous misrule of the government, past and present in Nigeria.
By the way, I have spent 44 years of my life in Nigeria so I can confirm that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) established in 1992 as a Nigerian Police Force unit to deal with crime and criminality associated with armed robbery and kidnapping has deviated from the initial mandate.
SARS became a tool in the hands of the police to harass, intimidate and extort money from young people who are often profiled as internet fraudsters and armed robbers. Many victims of these unscrupulous policemen were dispossessed of their finances and properties. Some of them eventually lost their lives via torture in illegal detention.
SARS maintained an unimaginable nuisance level until it was disbanded at the heat of #EndSARS protests in October 2020 by the Nigerian government who had been insensitive to the demands of young people who were at the receiving end of police brutality. After about two decades of crass impunity by the police, the killing of a young man whose car was stolen by SARS operatives in Delta State went viral on social media and triggered massive protests in October 2020 across Nigeria.
The five-point demand by EndSARS protesters are as follows:
- Immediate release of all arrested protesters.
- Justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families.
- Setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct.
- In line with new Police Act, psychological evaluation and re-training of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed.
- Increase of police remuneration
The hardship in Nigeria is numerous, hydra-headed and intractable. Basic electricity remains a mirage as the unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 33.3 percent as at April 2021 according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Millions of young university graduates wake up every day and do not have a means of livelihood.
I participated in #EndSARS protest inadvertently when I ran into popular human rights activists, Omoyele Sowore and Aisha Yesufu at the police headquarters in Abuja with a mammoth crowd on Thursday October 8, 2020. I joined the protest as a concerned citizen without doubting their aims and objectives.
The following Saturday, I protested with over a hundred thousand youths who marched from Berger overhead bridge through Unity Fountain and ended at the Police Headquarters Abuja where the police teargassed and sprayed hot peppery water and used all manner of force to stop the protest. I got involved in EndSARS protest because of I have been a victim of police brutality on several occasions and it’s never a palatable experience.
I also protested in Lagos State where the military shot and killed protesters who were seated, reciting the National Anthem and waving the Nigerian flags at the popular Lekki tollgate. For days, the Lekki-Epe Expressway was blocked at several points by protesting youths up to Lekki tollgate, the melting point of the protest. CNN gave an exhaustive media coverage to the Lekki tollgate mayhem and incurred the wrath of the Nigerian government who has consistently denied the incident.
In fact, a protester was shot dead by the police in my presence at Bogije Bus Stop on Lekki – Epe Expressway. His comrades dragged his corpse away before setting ablaze a police station and the nearby palace of a traditional ruler whom they accused of collecting unjust taxes from his subjects.
Nigerian youths were frustrated about the penury in the midst of abundant natural resources being mismanaged by a select few. In 2021, Nigeria ranked 103rd out of 116 countries on Global Hunger Index, GHI. That means, most Nigerians go to bed on empty stomach because they cannot afford to buy staple food. Nigeria has a level of hunger that is serious!
Take a look at the infrastructure and working systems put in place by the older generation in America, Canada, Europe or even Asia that used to be regarded as third world. They have made life meaningful for their citizens born and yet unborn.
If offered the prospect to choose, I am certain no Nigerian youth will select to be born a Nigerian citizen. That is how bad the condition has become.
Our older generation in Nigeria and Africa is a colossal catastrophe. We are burdened with greedy, visionless and plundering leadership. Past and present Nigeria’s leadership class have inflicted their young with power failure, poor quality health care, poor quality education, acute unemployment, bribery and corruption, poor governance, poverty, lack of development and industrialization, decayed infrastructure and any other kind of unconceivable economic discomfort.
For this reason, every young individual in Nigeria desires to relocate to the developed world in order to experience a structured environment where they can realize their dreams and aspirations. Nigeria seems to be a dream killer. Our leaders also prefer the social amenities of the developed and industrialized world for themselves and their families. No wonder endless queues appear at embassies of countries in Nigeria.
Those of us born in the 70s, 80s, 90s and the millennials are yet to experience quality leadership. These set of citizens should never be held responsible for the decay in Nigeria. We are not the wasted generation. Put the blame on our predecessors.
All these injustices meted to young Nigerians by the political class accumulated to #EndSARS protest in October 2020 simultaneously across the major cities of Nigeria and the globe. 2020 was also the year of COVID-19, the year of pandemic, the year of nose masks and hand sanitizers, the year of the new normal. It was a challenging year for the developed world and a year of drought for Nigeria, an undeveloped, non- aligned, third world nation. The Buhari led government in 2020 held unto the pandemic as a flimsy excuse to justify incompetence.
The level of impunity happening right now in Nigeria is mindboggling. No country deserves a leader such as Buhari who indulges in frequent medical tourism to the United Kingdom at the least ailment rather than revamping Nigeria’s moribund health care system. Medical doctors in Nigeria are continually migrating to other countries including United Arab Emirates, India and Saudi Arabia for improved remuneration and better working condition.
If you reside in America, Europe or Asia, you are privileged to live in a country that provides quality health care, basic steady electricity, potable water, pliable roads, relevant education etc. Please enjoy it.
Steady electricity is a rarity in Nigeria. In fact, the British colonial masters should not pull that slave trade stunt in Nigeria again because the ships will never be enough to accommodate young people who are eager to migrate to Europe and America for greener pastures. I bet you Nigeria will be empty of young people if any slave trade vessel berths in Lagos or Calabar.
Police brutality is not peculiar to Nigeria. The instance of “I can’t breathe” by late George Floyd is still very fresh in our memory. The video of a White police officer kneeling on the neck of his African American victim who was already on handcuffs triggered protests across the United States. The difference here is that justice has been served. The Black Lives Matter Movement can be juxtaposed with the EndSARS movement in Nigeria in several characteristics.
The difference lies in the fact that whilst the BLM which began in 2013 as a social movement is protesting police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people in the United States, EndSARS protests is agitating against police brutality, bribery, corruption, misgovernance and all forms of impunity against the black man by his fellow black man (Politicians and public office holders) in Nigeria.
Both social movements are battling the same demons originating from different skin colours, in different climes with hashtags that has gained global attention through street protests.
Both groups also had massive protests in year 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 epidemic lockdown. An estimated 15 million to 26 million people participated in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in the United States, making it one of the largest movements in the country’s history! Turnout for Endsars protests in about 32 states in Nigeria including solidarity protests that took place in cities of the United States, London, Germany, Spain, Australia, Italy, Amsterdam, Canada, South Africa etc cannot be estimated. The numbers were much higher than that of Black Lives Matter.
Aftermath of EndSARS protest, what have we achieved? What are the gains? Any improvement in police and citizen relationship? The answer is a capital NO.
Let us review October 2020 to October 2021. This appraisal comes from the prism of a citizen who never travelled out of Nigeria within this period.
The #EndSARS Judicial Panel of inquiry was set up by the Lagos State government on October 19, 2020 with the mandate to investigate cases of police brutality and provide restitution to the victims.
Victims filed 252 petitions out of which a total of 186 cases of police brutality, extrajudicial killings and abuse of powers were heard and received judgments.
Other states in Nigeria also instituted judicial panels of inquiry in accordance with the directive of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo where more than 10,000 cases are also being investigated.
The administration of Muhammadu Buhari who became military Head of State when I was 6 years old in 1983 has become more vicious and intolerant of dissenting voices. After the protest, what young people received from Buhari is total clamp down on civil demonstrations and gagging of the media. To mark the EndSARS anniversary in October 20, 2021, we organized a protest march in Abuja where about 50,000 young people turned up. A combined team of police officers, military and other law enforcement agents barricaded the roads and prevented us from marching to the National Assembly Complex Abuja to demand for an address from the Senate President.
In Lagos, protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate where young people were shot by Nigerian army in 2020 were once again brutalized and teargassed by state agents. Uncountable activists were arrested and dumped in police cells for showing up to mark EndSARS anniversary. There were also pockets of violence against protesters by law enforcement agents in some states of Nigeria where EndSARS memorial took place.
The condition we find ourselves today in Nigeria includes:
Intimidation of anti-government protesters
Human rights violations
Freezing of bank accounts of #Endsars protesters who received funds from abroad
Protesters hounded into prison custody with kangaroo court judgments
High rate of unemployment
Employment buying and selling by government ministries, department and agencies
Increased police brutality and extortion
Twitter ban for supporting #EndSARS protest
Illegal arrest of activists by the State Secret Police, DSS
High cost of food items, goods and services
Exchange rate of dollar to Naira rising to N550 to $1, inter alia.
It is abundantly clear that Buhari’s government envisaged state power as a means of livelihood and a retirement plan. Buhari is leaving behind a legacy of failure for not fulfilling the electoral promises he made to Nigerians.
Some state Judicial Panel of Enquiry has awarded compensation to victims of police brutality but there is no significant improvement in police-civil relations within the period under review. Citizens are still being harassed and extorted by the police. In march 2021, young people who came out in large numbers to protest the re-opening of Lekki tollgate were all arrested and arraigned in court by the Lagos State police. The government is continually ready to hire thugs to disrupt civil protests and blame unarmed protesters for the resultant massive vandalization of state properties.
Nigerians are experiencing the worst kind of leadership since 1960. Buhari failed as a young man in 1983 – 1985 when he became military Head of State via overthrowing of a democratically elected government. And today, Buhari is a colossal disaster as a grandfather and as a democratically elected president of Nigeria.
#EndSARS is a battle cry to alert the world that successive governments in Nigeria since 1960 independence are irresponsible squanderers who have abused the privilege of power. Men and women who has meandered the corridors of power only ended up lining their bank accounts with silver and gold.
Billions of dollars generated from our crude oil has been wasted and diverted into private pockets with no development to show for it by incompetent and insensitive rulers.
What we have in Nigeria are stupendously wealthy politicians and an impoverished citizenry. Residing in Nigeria is becoming more agonizing and unbearable by the day.
Let us reflect on the ideals of #EndSARS protests that left a lot of young Nigerians killed, maimed, imprisoned or even forced into exile. Let us sustain this war against the forces of oppression in our system. They are worse than the COVID-19 pandemic.
I personally recommend that this battle must include utilizing the #EndSARS brand to retire the older generation of rulers in Nigeria via the ballot box in 2023. By the way, members of the National Assembly in Nigeria voted against electronic transmission of election results. Why? Because majority of them are direct beneficiaries of our fundamentally flawed electoral process. The electorate boycott voting during elections because they believe their votes will not count. They are already disenfranchised by all forms of electoral malpractices put in place by callous politicians.
Having repeatedly failed our fatherland, the old order has absolutely nothing to offer Nigeria. Leadership has nothing to do with age.
Young people! Let’s take back our country and develop it by ourselves. It is our collective responsibility to recreate a habitable Nigeria from the damage Buhari and his co-travelers has done so far. We owe that duty to the coming generation.
I speak for the streets. I speak truth to power. I urge the international community to jettison the propaganda of achievements from Buhari and APC led administration and listen to people like us, the young Nigerians who are suffering untold poverty and deprivation. Let’s contest for the soul of our nation through all-inclusive restructuring.
My name is Uzor Ngoladi.
Thank you very much for listening!
#EndSARS!!!