#EndSARS: FORGING AHEAD WITH BLOODY INKS

 

#EndSARS: Forging Ahead with Bloody Inks

A protester (Ololade Ajayi) during the End SARS protest

END SARS

The  #EndSARS Movement allegedly kick started in Ughelli, Delta state on Tuesday 6^th of October  2020 after a viral video showed SARS Operatives pushing off a man from his vehicle. Then on Thursday 8^th of October 2020, protests kicked off in Lagos at Alausa and other parts of the city. And then the Federal Capital Territory subsequently joined in. One notable thing about the protest was the shared level of torture the protesters went through at the hands of the Nigeria security as well as allegedly state sponsored thugs.

THE PROTEST DEMANDS

The protest demands which was dubbed 5for5 includes but are not limited to the following:

1) Immediate release of all arrested protesters (this hasn't been done, rather more protesters are being arrested)

2)Justice for police deceased brutality victims and compensation for their families (this also has not been done, the police reportedly filed a lawsuit to stop the state judicial panels but withdrew it after much indignation from the public)

3) A panel of independent body to oversee the investigations and also prosecute acts of police misconducts

4) Psychological evaluation and retraining of SARS officers before redeployment to other units. (it is not clear if the SWAT being trained are ex SARS officials)

5) Increase police salary and renumerate them appropriately. (this has been done, but sadly no credit has been given to the Nigerian youths who pushed for it.)

The agitation also pushed against Electricity and Fuel hikes amongst other personal request as aggrieved protesters were using the opportunity to air their grievances.

 Several factors led to the protests getting out of hand! Ranks were infiltrated ( reportedly police moles) even though the protesters stood firm with their cause. Interestingly enough the Feminist Coalition which was one of the mainstream supporter of the cause was able to garner funds to support the cause and disbursed funds in a very transparent manner from medical and legal aid to refreshments and security. For two weeks it looked as if the Nigeria youths were running a parallel government with the Federal Government and this surely rattled the people in power.

#LEKKI MASSACRE

On the 20^th of October 2020, events suddenly took a drastic turn around for the worse. The protesters at the Lekki toll gate defied a supposed curfew imposed by the Lagos State government which was to begin at 9:00pm. Meanwhile soldiers began shooting sporadically at protesters by 7:00pm and this crisis has now been described as the #LekkiMassacre as several lives were said to have been lost due to the shooting. It was a horror story come alive as Nigerians watched on one of the protesters (DJ SWITCH)’s Instagram live video.

Till date, the turn of events at the Lekki Toll Gate is still a topic of perplexity. The Nigeria Army has denied their presence there and then eventually admitted their presence as it was obvious through several videos passed around on the internet. Although protests are off the streets for now due to armed military presence and threat to life, the Nigeria youth continue to push for their demands through the social media, insisting on justice for the blood of the innocent Nigerian youth shed.

The Federal Government has questions to answers as to who ordered the shooting of young patriotic Nigerians who was gunned down while singing the national anthem and waving the Nigerian flag which was already bloodied by the Nigerian Army.

 Even though our inks are bloodied with the brave Nigeria youths’ blood who died in the wake of the protest by the hand of the Nigeria army and police force, we must continue to write about and chronicle the events of the movement for posterity to judge us positively even in the face of soft threats (freezing protest leaders bank account) and hard threats (from witch hunting and arresting protesters to framing them for ambiguous crimes)

The judicial panels commissioned in different states has witnessed several horror stories being told by victims of police brutality and gained the attention of international media, with CNN publishing several reports on the events and the United KINGDOM’S Parliament condemning the part of the Nigeria federal government in the crisis.

#EndSARS is only an acronym for all the things the Nigerian youths want to end. There should be no room for impunity in our land, this is a clarion call for us to never relent in pushing for our right to a great country.