These last few months, the #EndSARS uprising in Nigeria has received a lot of attention and solidarity on the African continent and elsewhere in the world. Many accounts, including some brilliant ones, have been written from members of the Nigerian diaspora in South Africa and the United States. We wanted to do things differently and ask someone living in Nigeria to write a text for us. Sada Malumfashi accepted and provides us with this description of the movement.
The #EndSARS wave of protests against police brutality in October 2020 gained more momentum and distinction than any other social protest in Nigeria, in that it refused formal leadership, avoided political parties and any centralized organization or organized labor unions. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigerian Police Force (SARS) has been the target of protests since 2017, but the latest revolt was driven by young Nigerians, tired of being harassed, detained, and having friends killed by the police.
The Special Anti-robbery Squad is a unit under the Nigerian police force created in 1992 to fight crimes associated with armed robbery and kidnappings in the country. However, in the past two decades, SARS officers have been responsible for hundreds of extrajudicial executions and disappearances. SARS officers particularly target and detain young men for suspecting them of cybercrime or being “online fraudsters,” on the sole evidence of their owning a laptop or smartphone. They then ransom their liberty with excessive bail fees.
Since 2017, protests have been building momentum across Nigeria, stemming from online advocacy to street revolts. For almost three weeks this Fall, Nigeria whirled around multiple demonstrations across the country after a video showing a member of the SARS killing a man surfaced on social media, sparking public outcry. Beyond any previous movement in Nigeria, its inclusivity was extraordinary, it was a generation-Z on the ground movement that directed their anger towards the political establishment. The heroes of the #EndSARS uprising are young Nigerians out of school for almost a year due to incessant union strikes and the government’s inability to properly fund the educational sector. They carried the heavy lid of the protests on their backs across streets in the various states in Nigeria. They ensured water was on ground, food was available, and facemasks went round to shield against the coronavirus. A group of women under the aegis of the “Feminist Coalition” spearheaded this drive helping to organize and fundraise the protests and planning further on how to effect change in Nigeria with the gathering momentum. The Feminist Coalition, a group consisting of 14 women coordinated support for the #EndSARS movement and established a fund that raised nearly 150 million naira (330,000 euros) to support the protests within a few weeks. They paid for hospital bills of victims of police brutality, bailed protesters arrested by the police, paid for their legal fees, as well as hired private security guards for protection from hoodlums at the protest grounds across the country. It is not the first time Nigerian women have been at the forefront leading, organizing, and maintaining the momentum of movements. No doubt that these feminist women of the #EndSARS protests were determined not to be erased from the annals of history.
A photograph of another woman, an activist and protester Aisha Yesufu wearing a full hijab covering with a bag hung across her chest and throwing a fist in the air became a figure of boldness and tenacity for the #EndSARS protests. This was just one among many powerful photographs that came out of the protests, a remarkable difference from other previous protests in the country in terms of photography coverage and output. Armed with high-resolution mobile cameras and social media presence, most of the pictures out of the protest popped up viral on social media without marks or ownership. However, they were powerful images that conjured emotions of the nation during the weeks of protest and the ugly reality of the value of a Nigerian life. Through the images, one is able to grasp and document the enormity of the #EndSARS protests, as reminders of how our actions can be powerful tools for historical change.
The “Soro Soke” (a Yoruba phrase meaning “Speak up”) generation — the generation Z of Nigeria — is often dismissed in the political and national conversation in the country. Their rage is their common link. While speaking at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster in April 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari had called this generation of Nigerian youths “lazy.” This generation, the first to have grown up entirely under civilian regimes in Nigeria, with the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests have become more aware of the economic importance of their political rights and are now conscious of their ability to influence political change as the largest block of Nigerian voters. Their numbers collectively can swing the next general elections in 2023 when, for the first time in 20 years, President Muhammadu Buhari will not be running for the Presidency.
The power of social media through hashtags and digital archives towards driving and mobilizing for the #EndSARS protests and the renewed awareness of the political influence of young Nigerians struck the nerves of the government which has begun to plan ways of curtailing such spur on the moment kind of protests. Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, certain lawmakers, and governors are clamoring for the regulation of social media in the country. In the aftermath of the protest, the Central Bank of Nigeria also froze the bank accounts of certain individuals and organizations or groups that supported the #EndSARS protest through fundraising, charging others of financing terrorism.
The #EndSARS movement has exhibited the resourcefulness of young Nigerians to organize against the government and the prospect of converting that to a political drive if the youth at the forefront of the revolt unite. The Soro Soke generation could define the future of politics and governance in Nigeria now that they are aware of their influence more than ever, and with cheeky smiles, they could raise a middle finger to the police, to the system, to the people running the country. The Nigerian government, famously known for their meticulous and slow response to issues affecting Nigerians, continued to ignore the protesters for almost a week. And, a protest against brutality was met with more brutality.
On the night of October 20, 2020, soldiers of the Nigerian Army opened fire on peaceful #EndSARS protesters who had been demonstrating for weeks at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos State. At least 46 people were killed according to data gathered by Lagos-based risk advisory, SBM Intelligence. Snippets of the shooting were broadcast live to the world via the Instagram account of a famous disc jockey, DJ Switch with screams of “they are killing us” and the sounds of gunshots. The trauma is collective. A day after the incident, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu, denied reports of any loss of lives. A week later, the Nigerian Army admitted that it had deployed soldiers to the tollgate on the orders of the governor of Lagos State.
The Nigerian government believes they had met the demands of the protestors in October by disbanding the SARS unit and replacing it with a Special Weapon Tactical Team (SWAT). But this is the fourth time in as many years that the government has promised to disband or reform the unit that citizens say has terrorized them for decades. In 2006 and 2008, presidential committees proposed recommendations for reforming the Nigeria Police. In 2009, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation convened a National Committee on Torture to examine allegations of torture and unlawful killings, but made little headway. In October 2010, the then Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, allocated 71 billion naira (162 million euros) for police reforms. In 2016, the Inspector General of the Nigeria Police Force announced broad reforms to correct SARS units’ use of excessive force and failure to follow due process. In December 2017, the Inspector General announced plans to reorganize SARS units. In August 2018, Nigeria’s vice-president and then acting president, Yemi Osinbajo, ordered the overhaul of SARS, but allegations of abuse by SARS agents continued throughout the year. For the #EndSARS protesters, restructuring the unit, changing its name and redeploying its officers to other units is not enough; reform must translate into accountability and justice.
This December, the second wave of the #EndSARS protests restarted in Abuja and Lagos, with young Nigerians restrategizing and finding alternative ways to overcome government suppression. Government is already expressing worries about the youths returning to the streets in certain cities in December, with the Federal Government, indicating it would treat a fresh #EndSARS protest as an attempt at regime change, chargeable with treason. President Muhammadu Buhari said he will do whatever it takes to ensure that there is no repeat of #EndSARS protests in Nigeria again.
The #EndSARS movement is the biggest social protest the country has seen since the Occupy Nigeria movement of January 2012. For weeks, Nigeria was at standstill occupied by demonstrators. Through social media, all around the world the hashtag #EndSARS dragged attention to the situation in Nigeria. A hashtag became a template for stories to be shared of police brutality; a template to search for justice and accountability; a template as a rallying cry for a more sustainable Nigeria. #EndSARS is primarily a revolt of the youth, a grass root collectively organising together to challenge political hierarchy, by demanding to “not be killed” by their own county.
The young people at the forefront of the hashtag know the trauma of Nigeria’s police arresting us. Of how this trauma makes us burst out crying to the thoughts of losing loved ones to police brutality. Trampled on every side by violence. Fatigued and broken. In silence. Our lives remain a footnote. ■
Sada Malumfashi is a writer and freelance journalist from Kaduna, Nigeria, and a fellow of RSF Germany’s Berlin Scholarship Programme. He is the founder of the literary arts collective Open Arts. He was among the participants in the Goethe Institute Nigeria-Cameroon Literary Exchange Program. He is an awardee of the Goethe Institute/Sylt Foundation Writing Residency through the Literary Exchange Program. Read more on his contributor page.