Every active and inactive partaker of the protests against police brutality and the absolute end of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad-FSARS/SARS can join me to testify that we have achieved a great feat in just one week, a feat that breeds hope for us now and generations to come.
A young man was shot dead by SARS officials in Delta state on the 3rd of October 2020 and the moment videos of the incident surfaced on social media, the battle to put an end to SARS was resurrected.
Most would have thought it was business as usual, but as of today, the Nigerian youths have literally gotten the world’s attention and even our own government now knows that the youths have had enough of the silence code, the gimmicks, empty promises, and a failed system that has only succeeded in making us more miserable.
The Inspector General of Police’s (IGP) public announcement of the ban of SARS and other tactical unit of the force was taken with a pinch of salt and rejected as another foul play from the books of the government and so the protests to put a total end to SARS and ultimately, police brutality commenced on the 8th of October 2020 .
In the words of the American writer and civil rights activist, Audre Lorde, “I see protest as a genuine means of encouraging someone to feel the inconsistencies, the horror, of the lives we are living. Social protest is to say that we do not have to live this way.”
Nigerian youths have taken their future into their hands and have embraced Nelson Mandela’s words that say “sometimes it falls on a generation to be great, you can be that generation.”
The protests are peaceful and aim for five things, namely: 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 investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct within 10 days; confirmation by an independent body of the psychological evaluation and retraining of disbanded SARS officers; increase of police salary to ensure that they are adequately compensated for protecting lives.
A peek into the journey so far…
After almost a week of non-stop anger and outcry on social media against police brutality as more videos and stories of harassments and extortions by SARS and other members of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) kept pouring out, Nigerian youths took to the streets to make their voices heard.
Read Also: Abuja stand still as #EndSARS protesters defy ban, block Airport Road
October 8th
In my opinion, many Nigerian youths woke up last week Thursday with one goal in mind, we are going to get heard, and if we don’t, we will keep protesting until we are heard and something urgent is done.
In Lagos alone, hundreds of youths and some popular celebrities converged at the Lekki tollgate and different locations on the mainland to protest against SARS and police brutality.
In fact, many of the protesters in Lagos slept outside government houses and planned to continue doing so until their voices were heard.
Obinna, a young Biochemist said, “I have been beaten twice by SARS officers, at least I did not die in the process, but for my brothers and sisters who have died, I will keep protesting until we see a complete change.”
“I have a friend who has lost two siblings to police brutality, trust me, it hurts more when you have had first hand experiences of this thing, so if they think we would stop talking, they do not know what is coming,” Tolu said.
The first achievement of the first day of the protests was the provocation of responses from some sides of the government.
October 9th
By the second day of the protest, there were over 2.4 million tweets with the hashtag #EndSARS from various locations across the world and the protests had attracted reactions from international celebrities like Cardi B, Kanye West, Trey songz, Big Sean, Jidenna, John Boyega, Didi, Mesut Ozil and Marcus Rashford.
Youths in Abuja marched to the police headquarters to air their case and protest for a change, but sadly, this was met with the spraying of tear gas and firing of gunshots into the air to scare them away.
Protesters across Nigeria stood their ground, held their placards high and continued shouting in unison ‘EndSARS’, ‘we do not want reforms’.
Philantropists, celebrities, young and old Nigerians who were not necessarily active protesters went to the spots were protests were ongoing to share food, drinks and water as a way of encouraging this army of trailblazers.
Sadly, the police public relations officer, Frank Mba took to social media to respond and emphatically say that there would be no disbandment of SARS.
Nonetheless, the Deputy Governor of Lagos state, Femi Hamzat addressed the protesters and agreed with the youths that police officers do not have the right to trample on the rights of law-abiding citizens in the name of they have laptops, own Iphones or drive expensive cars.
Another good side was that an emergency parliamentary sitting was held by the Lagos state House of Assembly on the same Friday which gave birth to a 7-point resolution summarised as SARS probing, protection of protesters by the police, halting of all youth molestations, enquiry on extra-judicial killings by the Senate president, and the replacement of SARS with a new unit.
One of the downsides, however, was that in Ogun state, 15 protesters were arrested and three were even charged with murder, but at the end of the day, all of them were released after series of interventions.
October 10th
On the third day of the protests against SARS, I woke up to some more goodnews, hashtag #EndSARS was trending at number one globally.
For the first time in the history of Nigeria, unity of purpose on the part of the youths who have once been called lazy by our president has resulted in a global trend, causing the whole world to listen to our cry and watch the government either shame themselves or do the needful.
The third day of the protests garnered more crowds than ever in different protest locations across the country and the message was still the same, ‘End SARS’.
The day however turned almost black when news of the death of young boy in Oyo state, Jimoh Isiaka, by a stray bullet from police men went round.
Isiaka was just standing and observing the protests as some policemen fired shots to scare protesters away and met his untimely death that day, causing his father so many uncontrollable tears as the news was broken to him.
Protests in Delta state also became chaotic when hoodlums joined in, lead to a traffic gridlock and sadly the death a protester and a police man being.
In Abuja, the protest continued and was led by the Co-convener of the Bring Back our Girls (BBOG), Aisha Yesufu, but some members of the police force continued trying to disperse the youths with tear gas and bottles of water.
By the evening of this day, President Muhammadu Buhari who had been silent and had even lost at least 100 thousand of his twitter followers in less than 24 hours tweeted a photo of his meeting with the IGP and Vice President.
The President claimed that he had asked the IGP to address the issues and lead a police reform, further clamouring for calm and patience from Nigerians even as they peacefully make their voices heard.
Nigerians at large however maintained their grounds and put out word that they cannot be fooled; stating that they will only know the president is serious when he comes out to address the whole nation.
October 11th
Sunday marked the fourth day of the protests against SARS across Nigeria and even Nigerians in Diaspora.
While many were still protesting both online and on ground, the IGP announced in the afternoon that SARS had been disbanded across all the 36 states in Nigeria as well as the nation’s capital, with immediate effect.
He, however, made the announcement very tasteless by adding that the disbanded officers would be redeployed and human rights groups will help in building a replacement for the squad and a guiding a probe into past issues.
In as much as this was some form of good news, Nigerians refused to back down from the protests as series of police brutality were still evident and also on the grounds that rolling of these men that were no longer wanted back into other units would only worsen the case.
To this effect, five demands by the Nigerian protesters of the government were signed and released by the youths.
Protests on this day saw more supportive hands and voices like popular musician Davido who joined the protesters in Abuja and took to his twitter to express his anger at the arrest of protesters in the nation’s capital. He however did not stop there but made sure that all arrested persons were released.
Nigerians in London were not left out of the protests on Sunday as Wizkid and many other Nigerians led a protest in support of the EndSARS movement at the Nigerian High Commission, Thai square, London.
In Dublin and New York also, Nigerian protesters took their voices to the Nigerian embassy in Dublin and the Nigerian Consulate General in Canada to express support for the total disbandment of SARS so that young Nigerians can be allowed to move freely.
Sadly however, 3 more protesters in Oyo state were reported dead, making the death of protesters in the state a total of four in just two days.
October 12
The fifth day of the protests against SARS pulled more crowds across Nigeria and Lagos in particular was trending as protesters shutdown the Lekki tollgate, Muritala Mohammed Airport, Alausa, Ikorodu and Yaba road, causing a traffic gridlock, as they continued to demand the complete dissolution of SARS.
The Governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu came out to say to the youths that they should end the protests and believe that the government has really disbanded SARS.
The Governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike followed the stance of the Lagos state governor and announced to his people that all forms of protests where disallowed in the state.
Interestingly, the people of Rivers state responded that they were not backing down from the protests and took their protests to the front of the police headquarters in Rivers state, showing more than ever the determination of Nigerian youths to bring change.
On a flip side, the early hours of Monday saw some pro-SARS sympathisers in Abuja marching and stating that they were in full support of the unit and that they are choosing reforms over disbandment.
Nonetheless, protests against SARS continued in Abuja at the Berger round about, causing a gridlock and drawing attention to the demands of these peaceful protesters.
Sadly, however, then was pandemonium in Lagos, particularly around Surulere, where policemen were beating protesters and shooting at them.
This foul act resulted in more casualties as a protester was shot dead while four others were badly injured and others arrested.
October 13
By Tuesday, news got out that the presidential panel on police reforms had agreed to meet all the five demands of the Nigerian youths and all protesters.
The same public relations officer of the police force who said there would be no disbandment of SARS came up to announce that a replacement of the unit has been put in place and it would be called the Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT).
In my opinion, a name that is already emphasising weapon would only mean that the first go to option of this team would be their arms and ammunition.
Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and employment, who is meant to be more humanity driven, stated his belief that the protest was turning into a mob action.
In response to the fifth demand of the protesters that salaries of police men be increased, Keyamo told protesters that Buhari cannot increase the salaries of Policemen because this had been done 2 years ago and that the increase in minimum wage last year had been accounted for.
Protests therefore continued on Tuesday as the protesters could see beyond the tactics of the government in trying to silence them.
The downside, however was that at the end of Tuesday, the number of dead protesters had climbed to 10 persons.
October 14
October 14th 2020 marked the 7th day of the protest against police brutality and SARS officials, and by this time, the eyes of many had been opened to the urgency surrounding the sustainable resolution of the issues.
One of the leading NGOs showing support to this fight, Feminist Coalition, announced that they had raised N37 million in crowdfunding aimed at supporting protesters within four days.
This is asides other funding and support schemes of millions of naira already in place to help protesters across the country.
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), which is the umbrella of all registered political parties and associations in Nigeria addressed Buhari in a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, telling him to address Nigerians immediately as his silence is not golden.
Oluwafadekemi AreoIn fact, Ezugwu made it clear to the president that his address will go a long way in giving reassurance and cool tension among protesters who are being peaceful in their protests but being killed by security operatives, which casts doubt on the concern of the current administration to Nigerians sufferings.
Another flip side was recorded on Wednesday when the Borno state Governor, Babagana Zulum called out to the Federal Government to deploy SARS to his state in fighting Boko Haram as he asserted that SARS has been remarkable in that regard.
Protests across Lagos and Abuja were however disrupted when armed thugs from nowhere attacked the peaceful protesters one hour after they convened.
The attacks left vehicles of protesters destroyed, and several protesters with bad injuries.
October 15
Thugs came out of Lagos state buses and started attacking peaceful protesters in Lagos, but this did not stop protests across Nigeria, with many more powerful persons lending their voices to the cause.
Popular Clergyman and overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) added his voice in support of the ongoing #EndSARS protests via his Twitter account by saying “Our daughters will not be able to prophesy and young men will not see visions if we don’t keep them alive. I support the youths in this peaceful protest as they “speak up” to #EndPoliceBrutality, #EndSARS, #ENDSWAT”.
The Muslim side was not left out as the Imam of Peace blasted President Buhari on Twitter over the negligence of SARS and new police unit -SWAT in addition to freeing Boko Haram terrorists from prison, rehabilitating terrorists and allowing genocide in some Northern states.
Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO also showed his support in the #EndSARS protest and used his handle to ask people to donate funds for this cause through bitcoin.
Things even got more interesting on Thursday when the international twitter hackers #Anonymous supported #End SARS by infiltrating the database of the Nigerian police force, making NPF’s website to go offline. 72 hours after they gave their peaceful warning to which the government did not adhere, #Anymous released the names and contacts of operatives within the SARS.
In conclusion:
A wind of change is blowing in Nigeria and in my opinion, it cannot be stopped. Nigerian youths have shown the government and the world at large that they are peaceful, that they are accountable and transparent, that they are clean, that they can provide first aid, be responsible enough to take the injured to the hospital and most importantly that they will not back down until all of their demands are met.
The protests against police brutality in Nigeria have shown us that the people are more powerful than they think when they channel their energy to right things.
Although, the National House of Assembly has announced that all protests across the country should cease, Nigerian youths have said they are backing down and they have garnered moral, physical, financial and even spiritual support across the world.
My heart rests with the families of all fallen soldiers in this battle and even the ones whose deaths served as an intense reason to fight in the place.
We can only hope that their deaths would not be in vain and the wind of change which is blowing from Nigerian youths will see to the end of police brutality in Nigeria.
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