Protests erupted across major cities in Nigeria over human rights abuses perpetrated by a special unit of the Nigerian Police Force. The movement, with the hashtag #EndSARS which became the number one trending issue globally on 9th October 2020, calls for the complete disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS, a special unit of the Nigeria police which was created to fight violent crime in Nigeria. This police unit has been widely accused of carrying out indiscriminate arrests, widespread torture and murder of Nigerian citizens.
Protesters camped overnight at the Police Headquarters in Lagos on the first day of the protests – 7 October 2020. By morning the next day, protests resumed in the country’s capital, Abuja, and have now reverberated across major cities in Nigeria. Solidarity protests also took place on Sunday the 11th of October at the Nigerian embassies in the United Kingdom, the United States and Berlin.
What The Numbers Say
Data on the violent acts of SARS mostly remain missing in state records, however, Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog reported 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment and extra-judicial execution by SARS between January 2017 and May 2020. Stears Business reports that names like “The Temple”, “The Theatre”, and “Officer in Charge of Torture” are routinely used by members of this police unit to describe their torture chambers in police stations across Nigeria, violating the anti-torture act.
More Violence And An Announcement: Government Response
The Nigerian government has been particularly hostile to protesters in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, who were tear-gassed on all days of the protests. Live ammunition and water cannons were also used to disperse protesters in the capital city. On the 6th day of the protest, the military guards’ brigade were deployed against protesters leaving several injured. Gazette NGR reports that this same brigade opened fire on Shi’a protesters in October 2018, killing dozens. So far, at least 10 people have been killed during the protests by men of the Nigerian police force.
On the 11th of October 2020, the Inspector General of Police, through his spokesperson, Frank Mba announced the dissolution of the notorious police unit. However, for the young Nigerians who are the most popular target of this brutality, an announcement is not enough. Protests are still rolling out across major cities in the country until 5 demands are met which include the release of arrested protesters, investigation and prosecution of accused officers and improved funding for the police force.
Resisting The Resistance
The #EndSARS movement, which was shadow-banned briefly on Twitter, has become one of the most important acts of resistance out of the West African nation. Nigerians on Twitter have also continued to adopt new hashtags including #SARSMUSTGO and #EndSWAT. The #EndSWAT hashtag was adopted after the country’s police chief announced that the SARS unit will now be turned into the SWAT unit. But Nigerians insist on a complete dissolution of the unit, not a name change.
In addition to street and online protests, several petitions have also been created by citizens to ban public officials from travelling to the US, UK, and Canada which has high Nigerian migrant numbers. A petition which now has over 40,000 signatures was created petitioning the International Criminal Court to arrest the IGP for crimes against humanity.
The State of Human Rights in Nigeria
Civil liberties in Nigeria have shrunk over the last 5 years, with several disappearances and unlawful arrests reported including one of Abubakar Idris a staunch government critic, popularly known as Dadiyata who was taken away by unidentified men since August 2019. The Nigerian government has failed to take active steps towards investigating human rights abuses committed by officers of the law and other federal forces despite a lot of video evidence and witness accounts surfacing online. Mubarak Bala, a lawyer who identifies as an atheist has also been detained incommunicado since April 28, 2020, for blasphemy.
This story is part of our series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral and political reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
