To be completely honest with you all, I almost didn’t write about this. My reason being I was caught up and thus wasn’t in the position to write about #EndSars when the protest first started and then things went on and then the Lekki Massacre happened and then everything just changed but I happen to come in contact with people who still didn’t know and had no idea of the atrosity that went on in Nigeria (notice that I used past tense because I not just have faith but also believe and know that everything will and has passed away).
It is to those people that this is addressed to and also to assent to the (My Zone and Out) category of this blog.
So let’s start from the beginning and bear with me if I rant here and there cos my heart is really heavy right now but this has to get out there;
What Is SARS?
The Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) is a faceless organisation (meaning they are not in uniforms whatsoever, they don’t necessarily follow any rules or formats and can carry guns and what nots along with them anywhere they go) in Nigeria that was set up in Lagos vaguely around 1992 with the sole aim of protecting civilians from armed robbers. Why not just leave the police to handle these I don’t know. As the years went by, the unit was spread out to the various states in the country.
Okay so according to the reason why this team was set up, they were supposed to be protecting people from robbers right but what do they do instead, they turned into the robbers themselves. They extort, harass, attack and kill (yes kill) innocent people mainly the youth.They are profiling youth with nice cars, nice clothing, iphones with the assumption that they partake in fraud and engage in crime. In other sense if you look a little well kempt then you automatically qualify to be a robber.
How then do they operate. SARS officials stop people, go through their phones and coerce them to withdraw money from ATMs while threatening to beat or kill them. They even go as far to rape young girls flogging those that were being difficult just to mention a few. Around 2016-2017, campaigns and what nots were launched to disband the unit as growing footages of the inhumane practices of the unit started to spread around. What happened to the campaign, well a petition was signed and citizens waited for the unit to be disbanded but that never happened.
Fast forward October 3, 2020, a video was trending on social media recording a SARS official shooting a young man and driving away in his vehicle. This started an outburst causing the #EndSars to trend on all social media platforms. Did that happen, yet again, no.
The Protest
So unlike the other years, this time Nigerians (largely the youth, celebrities and all) were not going to sit down and have this continue yet again. They weren’t about to leave these people to make the already hard country even harder. So what did they do; organise a protest (a peaceful protest). People were marching around the different states with placards, online protesters were retweeting and sharing screenshots, christians and other religious groups were organising prayers walks, some were picking up dirts that protesters left behinds, others too were donating money to support the movement. All in all; peaceful and on the point.
Lekki Massacre
How then did the peaceful protest turn into a literal ambush to kill people. On 20. 10. 20 (a day that not only Nigerians but Africans and the world as a whole will never forget) the Governor of Lagos state announced a curfew on twitter that was supposed start at 4pm. And you know what I don’t even understand when this became a thing that Presidents, Governors, Ministers and what not started to use social media to address the people. Honestly!
Now let’s get back. So what do Nigerians (those that knew about the curfew) do, they refuse to adhere to this and why would they when the protest was peaceful to begin with. Why should there be the need for curfew in regards to such a protest? Can the people no longer address their leaders and seek for answers?
What happens at 4pm. Protesters were still at Lekki toll gates. At 6pm for whatever reason the lights went out, cameras shut down, billboards shot down and in the darkness a number of armed military men (the Nigerian army) present opened fire on unarmed peaceful protesting cilivians.
…
Why?
And even that was not enough. The shootings continued the next day and stray bullets found their way into people’s houses. And like that the nation bled.
Read: We will never forget.
Twenty Ten Twenty.
The Hidden Agenda
The true meaning of EndSars;
- E – Education and Economic Reform
- N – National Constitution Reform
- D – Debt Accountability
- S – Security Reform
- A – Anti-People Policies Cancellation
- R – Restructuring
- S – Save Cost of Governance
EndSars was more than just asking for the disbandement of the Sars. It was the people’s outcry to the policy makers to look into the country really look and explain how their pocket laid deep yet the ordinary man did not have a pocket to begin with yet he was called the criminal.
It was the youth plea for government to make reforms to the country to stop making them look like lazy misfits. Corruptions within the highest offices, embezzlement of funds in a debt engraved economy; it was a call out. EndSars was so much more.
Read: Why we are protesting in Nigeria to EndSars.
SarsMustEnd.
My take
When I first got to know of the fact that a unit that was supposed to protect it’s people rather turned on them, I remember wondering how this was even a thing. How are you going to turn on your own brother. How did it get to the point of shooting and kiling the people you had sworn to protect.
Police Brutality in Africa!! How is the average black man supposed to convince the (uninformed) white man that his life is worth just as much as his and then come home to face his fellow brother too and for what reason.
With what requirements are these people selected for what they do. What boxes does Mr President, Honorable Governor, what about the Mayor, the Police, the Soldier check before they are put into power. Because it’s about time we checked the sanity of the people we hand our nation over to. The government failed it’s people. The system killed their dreams. And now the real question is What next? What happens to the generation yet to come? What future do they have waiting for them? How long are we going to wait for change? Will there even be a change?
…
“The journey of a thousand mile begins with one step”. “Little drops of water makes a mighty ocean”. “The race of life is a marathon, not a sprint”. So yes there will be a change. We will taste of it and it will last.
To everyone in and out of Nigeria who have lost children friends partners in this spree, who have been disheartened and lost hope, who have been affected in one way or the other, I send balms to your hearts, sorry and hoax to you, tight hugs and pats on all your backs. All hope is not lost, you are not crying alone and we won’t be left to cry forever. Our voices will be heard and the groaning of our hearts will be answered and when that day comes, we would look back on these days as when we stood up and fought for a better tomorrow. EndSars Now!
Read: The Slingshot.
I refuse to not see life as cupcakes and rainbows 😁😁😁.
Thank you for reading.
Connect with me on;
Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Linkeden