#EndSARS: The World is Watching...

On 8 October of this year, Nigerian lives across the world changed forever. 

This may seem like a grandiose statement but the recent #EndSARS protests are the largest the country has seen in over ten years. It involves not only its bustling population of over 200 million people, but also its diaspora mainly spread out across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. On 21 October alone, 65% of all tweets in Nigeria included “#EndSARS” potentially making the movement one of the largest in a single country in recent history according to UK-based House of Data. 

The peaceful protests began after a video started circulating on 3 October of a man in Delta State being shot and killed by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). A few days later on 8 October, Nigerians began to take to the streets after mobilizing on social media under the hashtag #EndSARS. Mirroring the Arab Spring, people began protesting both on social media and physically--a key element that turned #EndSARS into the global movement that it is today. The reaction was one of anger and frustration after years of SARS harassing, killing and injuring countless Nigerians, especially youths, for simply dressing nicely or having an iPhone. In the eyes of SARS officers, this meant you must be involved in fraud. This discriminationatory policing has resulted in gross human rights violations and complete impunity by the special unit founded in 1992 to combat robberies and kidnappings, instead the unit themselves became the villains they were meant to stop.  

Groups like the Feminist Coalition, End SARS Response Unit and Gatefield Impact made the protests possible by providing medical aid, food, ambulances, legal assistance and sponsoring journalists covering the events on the ground. On 11 October, the government announced the dissolution of SARS. Except this is the fourth time they have promised SARS-related reform since 2017 and it’s not enough. The protests represent not solely demanding the abolishment of SARS but a push for overall police reform and the erasure of bad governance in the country.

On 19 October, a major prison break occurred in Edo State which led the state’s government to impose a state-wide curfew. The Nigerian government blamed this event on #EndSARS protesters. But why would unarmed protestors break into a high-security prison with armed guards and why were none of the “prisoners” wearing uniforms? This tactic has been used by authoritarian governments in the past to suppress peaceful protesters to discredit the movement. They then used this narrative of the protesters being hoodlums to justify their use of state-sanctioned violence during the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre the next day on 20 October, now known as “Black Tuesday.” Each move was orchestrated by the government: pay hoodlums to wreak havoc, say those hoodlums are the peaceful #EndSARS protestors, use the havoc as reason to enforce state-wide curfews, within hours of enforcing those curfews open fire on peaceful protestors, deny the massacre happened at all.

It’s important the international community keep its eyes on the Nigerian government to remind them that the world is watching. Continue to read pieces about #EndSARS and learn about the Nigerian political system, sign petitions, support grassroots efforts and continue to amplify the movement on your timelines. This is only the beginning of the long haul, Nigerians everywhere are currently re-strategizing, organizing and looking towards the way forward because they understand that their lives have changed forever.

Temi Ibirogba is a Program and Research Associate for the Africa Program at the Center for International Policy in Washington D.C..