#EndSars: How the 21st Century Protest Started in Nigeria 

By Nnenna Joseph

Nigerians have taken to the street to register their age long agitation against the Special Anti robbery Squad(SARS) Unit of the Nigerian police.

The unit constituted in 1992 by Simeon Danladi Midenda former police commissioner was projected to tackle robbery related issues, however, the squad deviated from its purpose to include extreme abuse of power and inhumane activities 

Evidence of these inhuman activities and extrajudicial killings by SARS came to the public glare early 2016 when the unit was reported by Amnesty International as responsible for human abuse, cruelty, degrading treatment of Nigerians in their custody, and other widespread torture. However, their activities date back as popular Nigerian presenter Ebuka Obi-Uchendu recounts his encounter with them 2005. 

This continued to deteriorate as gruesome videos and pictures of SARS brutality became frequent on social media space especially Twitter. Every week, a trend of SARS brutality was often seen on the trend table. This started to drop pockets of emotions, stirring revolt bit by bit. 

A trend emanating from South east Nigeria calling out Awkuzu SARS unit in Anambra state over the death of a young man in their custody surfaced 8th July 2020, details hold that a man went to see his son held at the unit, the commissioner told him to his face “Go, I have wasted your son”. The thread was quoted by over 200 persons narrating gruesome experiences they have heard or seen from Awkuzu sars quoting them as the worst division of the pack. Eye witnesses say the unit is notorious for killing victims and throwing them into the Ezu river. 

Another dreadful squad is the Abuja office called Abattoir squad, notorious for extrajudicial killings without trial, butchering young people without regard for life, without investigations. 

Some of the illicit operations of SARS in Nigeria include 

• Stopping young men to search them, 
• Youth profiling is one of their tools. If the victim has certain types of hair cut or own an iPhone, expensive gadgets, look good, they accuse them of fraud, cultism, robbery with NO investigation whatsoever.
• This is an attempt to extort from them. They are forced to open their bank app, demand any sum they deem fit
• Other times, they torture victims for days for their sheer pleasure
• They maim and kill at will, they do not hand “suspects” over to the law, they kill
• It is reported that they also sell victim’s human parts to ritual killers 
• They also rape women, dehumanize sex workers using sachet water as protection. 

The unit was described by a twitter user Uche P. Okoye as the home of human abattoir and organ trafficking zone. Their victims are picked randomly from their homes or along the streets, accused of illogical crimes, detained with no contact of friends or relatives, they are hung or shot shortly afterwards and their body parts sold. 

Victims are also swapped. The details say if the victim is able to pay half a million or more, he would be released and another killed in his stead. 

A month later, SARS operatives were called out by a popular twitter influencer @_valking who narrated his ordeal with them, they stopped him, threatened to waste him  and nothing will happen, after which they extorted N200,000 from him. 

There were also videos, pictures, clips of young men and women who got shot for doing nothing circulating daily. Every morning, Nigerian youths wake up to one of its own molested, killed, maimed, extorted, psychologically damaged.  

The situation worsened as it became clear that the operatives were out to extort Nigerians, forcefully extort huge sums of money, killing some at the slightest provocation.

October 2020, a video surfaced on twitter showing a SARS operative shoot a boy dead in delta state, and made away with his car. The video elicited an outburst of emotions across all social media platforms, this went further as Ughelli youths took the streets to express their grievance against the SARS and demanded an #EndtoSars. This went on for a while until the masses started agitating for a nation wide protest, and this kicked off a series of response and ensuing activities. 

In 48 hours protest take-off points, time, modus operandi were planned on twitter and taken to the streets of Lagos. As Lagos launched its first march Wednesday, Oct 7th, other states of Nigeria initiated theirs all planned on twitter and taken to the street with the unanimous tag #EndSars. 

This is the first time in history, a virtual protest is taken to the street. No meeting points, no acting leaders, everyone has an opinion. 

The EndSars campaign has attracted international attention. The Nigerian  President and the inspector general of police made an effort to meet the protesters half way, however, they regrouped on Twitter and agreed there is no backing down until their demands are met to the letter. 

Today Tuesday 13th October is the 6th day of the nationwide protest with close to 20 unarmed, peaceful protesters shot dead by the Nigerian police, yet, the protesters are not deterred. 

Read Also: How James Nwafor Killed 100+ Youths in Awkuzu SARS

According to Dr. Tayo Oyedeji,

The #EndSarsNow protest is the first 21st century democratic movement in Nigeria

• It started online 
• It went offline 
• It became a global phenomenon 
• It created a policy change. 

Little wonder they want to pass the social media bill and hate speech bill in Nigeria, the ruling class are aware of the power social media wields. 

Since time immemorial, a twitter user who doubles as a lawyer identified as @Segalink, has been at the forefront of SARS protests, sometimes, he protests alone. He uses his legal foothold to advocate and rescue as many young Nigerian men and women as he can.