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NIGERIA #ENDSARS

During the protest going on for years it has now come back on 2020. At least 10 persons since the protest started, they have died during the protest of the police brutality in Nigeria.

SARS is a “controversial Nigerian police unit” which has had a high point target in the world demanding to end brutality. There are many young men taking big part for the SAR police unit on October 8,2020. They have now announced that this will be part of the new unit.

Jimoh isiaqu has been identified as one of the persons who died in the protest, he was killed by bullets fired at protesters, but police have denied they ever shot at protesters. His family have planned to sue the polices from Nigeria if they do not investigate his death they also know and have proof of the names of the officers. Another guy passed away on Monday who was 55 years old and was killed by bullets fired by police officers.

This is a big problem because protestors are continuing to be shot and killed by officers. The government is talking about ending SARS, but protestors also want to end police brutality as well. There is a recorded of 82 cases of SARS these past three years.  The hashtag “ENDSARS” was bought up on social media for people as influencers with many followers and that are well known to see and post about it and is now being viral.    Also, because on October 4 ,2020 there was a video going viral of officers dragging men from a hotel and they shot one of the men.

They want to end the torture, assaults, killing by SARS Officers. Also, the victims of this crime are still in need of justice in which we now need to take action to ENDSARS!! SARS  officers are denying  evidence but there’s a lot of evidence** , Mr. Agu have said that “in 2014 he was beaten , paraded un public as criminal, suspended upside down and had two of his teeth pulled out” also the SARS officers sold his care and mobile phone without his concern .

His family did not know of him but after 47 day of search from his fam they beat his wife and mother in front of him.

Three other cases happened this Tuesday, but they have not had much witnesses available to share.

They have stated that there’s reports of shootings at the “Lekki toll plaza”. Inyene Akpan has said that he seen 20 soldiers arriving at the toll gate in Lekki and open fire and saw 2 people being shot. Akinbosola Ogunsanya has said that he seen 10 people being shot at but saw soldiers remove the bodies.  This is bad because they not only hiding evidence but so not many people can prove it. On the other side they have posted videos and pictures live posted on twitter ,Instagram showing the scenes and you able to see and hear the gunfire’s.

Cites

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/13/africa/nigeria-police-sars-victims-intl/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/endsars-nigeria-police-brutality-sars-lekki-protest/2020/10/22/27e31e0c-143d-11eb-a258-614acf2b906d_story.html                                                                                                                

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54706977

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Why protest in Nigeria are Aimed at SARS

Special Anti-Robbery squad best known as SARS has been a violent crime as in robbery, kidnapping, carjacking in which it has created a very bad violent crime since 1984 In Nigeria.

Africa has the biggest oil producers have been protested with anger over police brutality. There has been a lot of deadly people, soldiers have fired protesters and there has been a report of at least 17 police station being destroyed due to Nigerians having concerns about the polices using violence. The SARS claims that the victims were men from age 18 to 25 and that come from very low backgrounds. In 1992 the SARS was formed to armed robbery and violent crimes. But on the early 1990 they were terrorizing Nigeria and Lagos.

On October 3, 2020 there was a video posted all over social media that has gone viral that shows the dead of them killing a men by SARS officers in Ughelli , but officers have arrested the person who had recorded and officers have denied and stated that is fake . this has caused much more anger. Social media has started a “#ENDSTARS” hashtag and started posting more video. A famous tweet was “they took turns to slap, punch and kick me while I was struggling with a swollen knee” At least six officers, one at a time”. There are pictures to bring more attention and spread for everyone to see this that has been going on. Also, there has not been much going on from the government because president Muhammadu Buhari has said that SARS officers would only be redeployed from the police system, but he did not take no actions from the protesters or nothing else.

The protests going on have not doing much but have increased the anger especially now after the dead of the men that happened in Lagos on Tuesday. Which now they have a curfew and have deployed the Nigeria’s military. another similar thar the united states have stated was the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis only difference was that the Nigerians protesters did not demand the police. this took action that they wanted as many resources to improve brutality.

Brutality is not only the conflict going on but also the environment and economy. as in Nigeria the oil being exported and has caused a big problem due to the pandemic going on now with Coronavirus.

The “#ENDSARS” movement has the most protest on the country since the Occupy Nigeria in January 2012. They also are hoping for this to soon fix our broken system. with this being brought to attention to what everyone has now in days “social media” there should be more of action and more help. brutality is not okay and that’s how we know our system is not good. Officers should not be torturing, killing and many more.  All over the world there’s many videos taken but still denied that it was fake so they will be cover up.

ENDSARS!

SOURCES!

https://www.nytimes.com/article/sars-nigeria-police.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/10/22/sars-a-brief-history-of-a-rogue-unit

BY; ESTEFANIE CARDONA

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This is a video of young Nigerians showing their last respect to those that were killed by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.  

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A Glance at Police Brutality in Nigeria: Can the Nigerian Youths bring a New Nigeria into Existence?

       In recent times, there has been a growing evidence of youth activism and mobilization,  but all of that did not go a long way, the only way the desired changes can be achieved will be when youths are actively represented in politics; an absence of a strategic political agenda pose ongoing barriers to young people playing a role in national development.   It is fair to say that the Nigerian youths have yet to achieve the level of inclusion required to gain representation in politics. Although With the signing into law of the Not “Too Young To Run” Bill in 2019, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, this trend seems to be changing as youths are beginning to see the importance of their role in governance.    As a result of the Bill, there is a positive trend in youth participation, with youth candidacy increasing from 21% in 2015 to 34.2% in the 2019 elections.  Despite these changes, the number of youths aged 18–29 (based on the youth definition given by the National Youth Policy organization), voted into elective positions in Nigeria is less than 1%.   Further, there are no youth in the new cabinet formed by President Buhari, and neither is there a youth in the National Assembly.  This is despite youths making up over 67% of registered voters, on average, which means that whoever they decide to vote for is sure of winning the election.

       A major deterring factor is Poor funding and high costs of nomination forms for various offices.   In the run up to the 2019 general election, the cost of nomination forms was as high as 45 million naira (US$125,000) for Presidential aspirants, 22.5 million (US$60,000) for governorship aspirants, 7 million (US$19,000) for the Senate and 3.8 million (US$10,500) for the House of Representatives.   Few Nigerian youths are financially buoyant to pay these sums and, since donors and godfathers usually prefer older men whom they believe have the chances of winning, young people are naturally disenfranchised.  Thus, while in theory they are “Not Too Young To Run”, in practice, the youth find themselves Too-Poor-To-Run and in a dilemma of how to mobilize sufficient funds to be ‘eligible’ for representation.

       But with the awakening of the ongoing #ENDSARS protest and with the kind of buzz and support the Nigerians youths have received from international bodies, and personalities, it is evident that the days of godfatherism is numbered in Nigeria.   With the present fire burning in the minds of every youth, come 2023, a lot of youths willing to run for political positions, and they will get sponsors other than the godfathers, there will be an end to bad governance and the era of the old being in power political and governance will become a thing of the past, and the Nigeria of their dream will be birthed!  The process has begun already, the world has heard their voices, they are watching and listening.

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The 5 for 5 demands by the young Nigerians during the protest.

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These are some pictures of the #EndSars protest in Nigeria by the youths.

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EndSARS protest

The #EndSARS protest is more than just a call for security sector reform in Nigeria. The protests are coming amidst economic crisis occasioned by the fall in global oil demand and prices, institutionalized corruption, and state profligacy. Existing social inequalities have been exacerbated by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The cumulative effect of the pandemic on the society in the absence of safety nets have coincided with months of closure of educational institutions leaving many young people alienated and angry. This has been complicated by worsening economic conditions and bleak projections for the future. Barely recovering from an economic recession that started in 2016, President Buhari has called on Nigerians to “brace up for another recession.” Amidst reports of high level state corruption, galloping inflation and unprecedented levels of unemployment, the government recently announced increases in the pump prices of fuel and a hike in electricity tariffs.

The gloomy economic outlook has been worsened by rising insecurity across the country. Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency has contributed to a monumental and complex humanitarian crisis with over 30,000 deaths and the displacement of more than two million people in the north-east region of the country. Across the north-west, rural banditry and cattle rustling continue to pose threats to life and property while recurrent clashes between sedentary farmers and nomadic herders in the north-central region is threatening food security and livelihoods. In the south-east and south-south regions, secessionist agitations, militancy, farmer-herder conflicts, and kidnapping for ransom not only threaten human security, but also the stability and territorial integrity of the Nigerian state as well as the legitimacy of the State.

State actors in Nigeria have shown a lack of political will to creatively respond to the demands and expectations of the citizens. Against this background, the protests have become a metaphor for broader resentment against a dysfunctional system that has frustrated any organic development in the country. It has opened the path for the people to vent bottled-up frustrations against a system that has held so much promise but delivered so little. #EndSARS is a protest against a ruling elite that has exploited and appropriated the collective patrimony to itself.

The protesters’ demands at the beginning were simple and straight forward; federal government should abolish SARS, provide justice to victims of police brutality and reform the police. But the demands have grown and now include a call to end insecurity and corruption, revival of the educational and health systems, reduction in the cost of governance, and creation of jobs and income generating opportunities for the youth. The youth are taking advantage of the protests to demand for good governance. They have shown determination and courage despite threats of state repression, to occupy the streets and hold the authorities to account. Worthy of note is how the protesters have effectively used social media and digital technologies to mobilize and organize protests across the country and how “resourceful young medical practitioners, lawyers, freelance media startups and food vendors are offering free services to the protesters and injured.”

In a country where protests against human rights violations by state actors and agencies are rare, the intensity and scope of the ongoing protests as well as the courage and determination of the protesters, reflect a deep-seated resentment against an oppressive political order. They also reflect a long-standing yearning for peaceful and positive change. As the protests continue to gain momentum, some argue that they point to a looming revolution in Nigeria.

sources: 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/21/africa/nigeria-sars-protests-police-explainer-intl/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/soldiers-open-fire-nigeria-drawing-global-attention-long-running-protests-n1244111

by: Laysha Chavez 

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What is the 5 for 5 demand?

There is a hashtag #5for5 going around in Nigeria. Since the government has given people the run around and make proclamations that they were getting rid of SARS when in fact they did not, the people have taken a different approach. They want to see actual change before they will take the government serious. They have been lied to enough that they felt they needed to just make their requests known. This is a very interesting approach because they do not have a single spokesperson as a medium to relay communication. The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations has come out to request one of these demands but it has been other groups of people coming together to make these requests as well. These people come together on social media and come up with these reasonable demands. It is interesting to see how things are done in the current times we live in.

           So, the first demand is that the police release the detained protesters. The people making these demands feel that the protesters were not committing a crime but were only speaking against the injustices. The problem is that in some of these protests there are looters, much like here. It is difficult to know for sure if these people were calmly protesting or doing anything more than that. The second demand is for compensation and justice for the families of the victims. There were people that were heartlessly killed by the SARS officers for simply being profiled and those families will never see them again. There should be compensation for the families and the families would be able to see that justice is served by the officers serving jail time for their crimes. These officers cannot get away with what they did with no consequences. It is not right.

           The third demand is that there be better oversight. Many times the people overseeing a corrupt department are directly connected to it and this results in a lot of information being swept under the rug. All the people are asking is that an independent entity oversee the prosecution of these officers so there will be no bias. These are not unfair requests. Obviously the people are seeing the negative patterns that have taken place and want to put a stop to it. The people even recommended that these persecutions be broadcasted live so the people could see there was nothing suspicious going on. The fourth demand is to increase police salaries. SARS was reported to have been extorting money in the past. There were many reports of them stopping people illegally and taking money from them like a bunch of thugs. I found this interesting because our new thought approach here is to defund the police. Perhaps because people feel that police here already make enough money and are still being found to be brutalizing people.

           The fifth demand in the #5for5 calls for psychological evaluation of the SARS officers before they are put back on the streets. I completely agree with this. Oftentimes officers have issues with anger, trauma, and alcoholism and this can very well lead to poor job performance. They have to deal with criminals on a daily basis. I would even take it a step further and demand regular therapy and evaluations to ensure they are in the right mental state to do the job.

Sources:

 kabir, A., 2020. #Endsars: Csos Demand Transparent Prosecution Of Erring Officers, Condemn Looting. [online] Premium Times Nigeria. Available at: <https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/423262-endsars-csos-demand-transparent-prosecution-of-erring-officers-condemn-looting.html> [Accessed 30 October 2020].

by: Karina E.Denton

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kabir, A., 2020. #Endsars: Csos Demand Transparent Prosecution Of Erring Officers, Condemn Looting. [online] Premium Times Nigeria. Available at: <https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/423262-endsars-csos-demand-transparent-prosecution-of-erring-officers-condemn-looting.html> [Accessed 30 October 2020].

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A Glance at Police Brutality in Nigeria

 The Nigerian Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad tagged; SARS was established in the year 1992 primarily to control the disturbing increase in  armed robbery attacks nationwide.  This specially trained officers were carved out of the regular police department, but with specialized tactical training.  Most of the officers do not wear uniforms or name badge that make people identify them. It is however noteworthy, the fact that there were numerous arrests made during the forming years of this unit.  This led to reduction in the rate of armed robbery related crimes.  This unit also helped curtail cases of kidnappings, violent cult crimes and arguably brought normalcy back to the society.  As the years roll by, the SARS unit became powerful and only answerable to the Nigerian Inspector General of Police.  There was zero control at the state or local government level.  There is a saying that “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.   The Special Anti-Robbery Squad became so powerful that they ignored the constitution and started making their own laws.   They became extremist, arresting without cause, killing crime suspects at will, stopping and searching young men riding in any flashy automobile and kidnapping which was one of the shortcomings they were created to control.  

Furthermore, the recent grievances about the SARS unit did not just started via social media this year, it has been an ongoing mission since 2017. In the past few years, there has been complaints from the citizens about the excesses of the SARS unit. But there was no concrete actions or measures taken by the Nigerian Police Force and by extension, the Nigerian government.  These complaints and grievances increased as the years go by.   There were also follow up protests by students’ groups, civil societies groups, and other activist groups all to no avail.  

Then came the dawn of 2020 with an unwanted guest called COVID 19.   This  virus led to a pandemic which crumbled economies globally.   Nigeria was not left out of the effects of this  pandemic leading to an economic recession.  This economic shutdown pushed the citizens to the wall, and they decided to use any opportunity to show grievances relating to different issues like bad governance, police brutality, corruption etc.  This led to a peaceful protest by concerned citizens to show their grievances about the rate of abuse of power by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, and by extension, all aforementioned issues affecting the livelihood of the people,  and every effort made by the Nigeria government to scrap the SARS unit have been unproductive.

In response, police shot tear gas and live bullets at protesters, injuring, and cutting the lives of some protesters short, armed thugs also disrupted the protest and attacked protesters.   This generated to an outcry on social media, twitter, and Instagram especially, where the hashtag #EndSars was trending globally, and led to protests in other cities around the world.   One of the popular slogans used during the protest was “Soro Soke”, which means “Speak Up” in Nigeria’s Yoruba language.  

The Nigeria government responded to the protester’s demand on October 11, saying the SARS unit would be disbanded.  The defunct members would go through psychological examinations and will be absolved by their parent regular police commands.  The disbanded unit was also replaced by  a new unit named the Special Weapon and Tactical (SWAT) team.   The protesters were not satisfied with these changes, they went ahead and demand for a more wholistic police reforms, and  further protection of citizens against Nigeria Police brutality.  

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A Look at the SARS problem

                                        A look at the SARS problem                                         by: Karina Denton

 SARS stands for Special Anti-Robber Squad. This was a branch from the Nigerian police force appointed to handle certain crimes like kidnapping, robbery, or crimes that involved guns. The problem with them started when they began to overstep and did not respect human rights. They began profiling people that they believed to be suspicious and involved themselves in crimes out of their scope. This sounds a bit familiar if you grew up with knowledge of the Rodney King/ Los Angeles riots to the recent George Floyd incident. People in Nigeria began to capture these criminal police on video for the nation and the world to see and began to get upset. Protests began and people demanded justice. Sadly, the Nigerian people were not heard or acknowledged for a long time. These videos and protests went on and the younger generation seemed to be the ones to be informing everyone else through social media.

Nigerian government has stepped in and said that they have banned SARS, a few times. This gave the Nigerian people a false hope until the incidents would happen again. Videos and social media posts of the injustices continued, and many Nigerians just do not trust the government now. The problem here is that the government is not being transparent of their plans and the people feel they are not being acknowledged. There is also a huge problem in relying on social media to get the truth out. People were found to be spreading fake news to keep the anger going. Many assumptions were being made during protests and this is a problem that can happen when we get our news from unreliable sources. There are many similarities to what we have going on with our nation, regarding how information is used. 

       There were videos in Nigeria that were portraying protesters as looters. You would think that they were taking ideas from the United States. It is unclear if this mix of information is done accidentally or if people are trying to keep the momentum going. There was one post where an old picture was circulating of Catholic Bishops in Nigeria. The post was from earlier in the year, but the picture was circulating as these bishops marching for a current protest. For people that are occasionally reading the news from home, this can be very confusing and misleading. It seems like the people that are deep in the social media platforms and even on the floor of these protests are the only people that are really going to know about what is going on and the full extent of the reality. They will be watching the live videos of the crimes and protests as soon as they come out. They can discuss in forums about what needs to change such as proper training to these SARS officers and more Police funding. I am not sure how the news media is in Nigeria but if it is anything like the U.S. can they trust the information is not biased?

  BBC News. 2020. Nigeria Sars Protest: The Misinformation Circulating Online. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54628292> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

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Police Brutality in Nigeria

A nationwide protest began on 0ctober 7, 2020, with mostly young Nigerians demanding the scrapping out of a scandalous police unit, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). In response, police shot tear gas and live bullets at protesters, injuring and cutting the lives of some protesters short, armed thugs also disrupted the protest and attacked protesters.

This generated to an outcry on social media, twitter and Instagram especially, where the hashtag #EndSars was trending globally, and led to protests in other cities around the world.

The Nigeria government responded to the protester’s demand on October 11, saying the SARS unit would be disbanded.  The defunct members would go through psychological examinations and will be absolved by their parent regular police commands.  The disbanded unit was also replaced by  a new unit named the Special Weapon and Tactical (SWAT) team.  

The protesters were not satisfied with these changes, they went ahead to demand for a more wholistic police reforms, and  further protection of citizens against Nigeria Police brutality.