THE #ENDSARS MOVEMENT
The Fight Against Police Brutality in Nigeria
On October 20, 2020, less than two weeks into a nationwide peaceful demonstration against the scourge of police brutality and poor governance, the Nigerian army and police force opened fire on its own people.
The details of who gave the grave orders are unclear. Like a lot of occurrences in Nigeria, the records are murky in colour; unprecise in their terms. Politicians stumble over their words on our newsfeeds, fall over themselves in our legislative houses, and deny the reality of what truly happened. Yet, we watched live broadcasts on our phones and devices as the future of Nigeria lay dying on potholed streets, wounded by government-sponsored bullets.
An Undying Unit
When the peaceful protests began in Nigeria and the diaspora, the demands of the protesters were clear. The rogue police unit known as SARS needed to be abolished. Since its creation in 1992, SARS had cheapened to a mere facade, proliferating harassment, extortion, abduction and murder under the guise of enforcing the law. Nigerians demanded an investigation into the conduct of SARS officers and the wider police force, demanded justice for victims of police brutality and called for police reform.
In response to the protests, the Nigerian government announced on October 11, 2020 that SARS had been “dissolved”. This was a move which numerous Nigerians recognised as evocative of several announcements that had been made in recent years, with Nigerians still facing the unit’s wanton intimidation on the streets.
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Birth of the Resistance
Within days of the government’s dissolution announcement, the Nigerian authorities created SWAT, a new police unit intended to “fill the gaps” left behind. This only aggravated Nigerians further, as experience showed that the atrocities committed by SARS would continue to be perpetuated under a different name. Nigerians all over the world took to the streets to sustain the protests and demand substantive change, both in the context of police reform and in governance.
Protests were held in at least 23 states in Nigeria, with many Nigerian citizens highlighting the difficult experiences they had been through with SARS and the Nigerian police force over the years: narratives of unwarranted arrests and detentions, emptied bank accounts and physical torture. At least one family was forced to sell property to meet a payment demanded by SARS for the release of a relative held in SARS’ custody. The respective family’s relative was detained by SARS in 2012 and, till date, has neither been found nor has his body been recovered by his family. Others have been forced to make significant payments to SARS to secure the release of detainees and, yet, have received only the corpses of such detainees in return.
A Failed State
A Nigerian proverb says that “No one treats an injury without first removing the thorn therein.” Any fragile attempt to cover up the cesspit of Nigeria’s policing system without identifying and appropriately addressing the root cause of the problem is bound to fail. The poverty, corruption, inefficiency and lack of accountability that defines the Nigerian police system is endemic in so many aspects of the present-day Nigerian society, and is perhaps one of the clearest markers of the country’s decades of failed leadership.
With the attempts made so far by the Nigerian authorities to deal with the people’s demands for justice and accountability, including the decision to open fire on peaceful protesters, it is imperative to question whether Nigerian leaders intend to work towards a solution that places inherent value on the lives of the country’s citizens, or whether they prefer to continue to cocoon themselves away from the realities of the average Nigerian behind high-walled, barbed-wired fences.
Call to Action
Doubtlessly, Nigeria’s problems did not begin yesterday, nor did they begin even 60 years ago. The resources required to fully address Nigeria’s thorns will need to probe even further into the nation’s complex history; into the forced conglomeration of diverse cultures and the legacies left behind by colonial structures set in place for the sole benefit of foreign powers at the expense of the local people. Treating Nigeria’s wounds will require tireless work, and the recent uprising of the country’s youth in speaking up against the daily injustices and cruelty Nigerians face at the hands of the country’s own leaders and police force is only the beginning.
In the circumstances, NBP calls not only for thorough and systematic reform of the police and other law enforcement agencies in Nigeria, but also for a detailed investigation into the human rights violations perpetuated by the Nigerian police and the Nigerian leadership. NBP encourages Nigerians within the country and in the diaspora to keep the protests alive whilst remaining cognisant of the laws of the jurisdictions in which they reside. The lives of Nigerians have, for too long, been deprived of the value and respect that should intrinsically be afforded every human life. It is time that we stand for substantive change.
Sustaining the Revolution
NBP further calls on the international community to support the #EndSARS movement and the calls for change in Nigeria by holding to account members of the Nigerian government and police force found to be involved in human rights violations. Such individuals should be sanctioned from entering into foreign jurisdictions and prevented from channelling funds through foreign financial institutions. It is crucial that the international community come together to acknowledge the realities of what continued unrest in a country such as Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, could do to exacerbate such challenges as the global refugee crisis.
