Nigerians, for many years have been “suffering and smiling.” Due to the fact that the citizens have always had difficulties to stand-up together for what they want.
Over the past week, Nigeria has been more united than ever. As young Nigerians have ramped up widespread protests against rampant brutality by the police.
The Nigerian youths have called for the government of President Muhammad Buhari to put an end to SARS, a notorious “special” police unit designated to combat armed robbery but is largely known instead for blatant extortion and in some cases, extra-judicial killings.
The movement started in Lagos by Folarin Falana, popularly known by his stage name as Falz and his colleague Douglas Jack Agu aka Runtown. The protests have spread to other states across the country and outside the country in similar fashion with social media also deployed as a key tool for organizing.
Falz, an actor, singer, and son of Nigerian lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, took to his twitter page to announce the beginning of the peaceful protest on Thursday morning. He said, “No backing down. We move. The police are already there, waiting for us but we are not here to cause trouble. It is a peaceful protest.
Singer Runtown had initiated the idea of the protest on his Twitter page on October 4, after a social media campaign to end SARS went viral with Nigerians calling for the abolition of the police outfit.
On Sunday afternoon, popular singer, David Adeleke aka Davido, still went ahead with his planned protest against the dreaded police unit. The protesters who started their protest late in the evening, demanded a holistic approach to the reformation of the entire police force.
The police fired teargas at the protesters, shot rubber bullets and sprayed water on them. Not done, the rampaging cops alighted from their van and started chasing down the youth one after the other.
Nigerian music superstar Wizkid, also joined hundreds of Nigerians to protest in London for the same campaign. Nigerians in the diaspora were not left out as hundreds of Nigerians took to the Nigeria High Commission in London to join the protest back home.
Wizkid pulled up to the protest and addressed the crowd present.
He told the crowd
“For Nigerians youths, don’t let anyone tell you you don’t have a voice,”
“This is not about me/You or any individual !! This is for us and the next generation to come! Love everybody! Red heart.”
These protests have brought about a positive change making the citizens know they actually have a voice and also deserve the best, even if for a fact the government haven’t granted our request but it has made us stronger as a nation.
The #EndSARS hashtag yielded 28 million tweets over the past weekend alone, according to social media analytics firm, Afriques Connectées.
These protests are different because they are decentralized and not directed by “leaders” or typical “activists.”
