End SARS And Oppression – Will the Movement Die A Natural Death?
By Samuel Mofijesusewa
When I first got ready to work on this article, I prepared to write an overly optimistic piece to encourage the troops. But I took a step back and spoke to different young people and a few older supporters of the cause. The objective was to see where people’s minds are and hear what people think about the movement.
The sentiment is the same – the movement and what it stands for is admirable, but none of the people I spoke to believed that it would achieve most of its objectives. There is no doubt that well-thinking youths learned a few lessons from the months of campaigning and demonstrations, but is that all?
If nothing else, we learned that the youths could come together (regardless of tribal differences) if they believe in a common cause. We also learned that we have a voice, and when we use it together, we are mostly unstoppable. Whether or not the people who should be listening to the said voice do, is something that will decide if the movement will die a natural death.
Three months after the first set of protests, some Nigerian youths attempted to make a return to the streets to speak against the re-opening of Lekki Toll Gate. The panel set up to investigate the Lekki Toll Gate Massacre shut down the toll gate after the happenings on October 20, 2020. Their protest didn’t end well. The initial rallies had thousands of people come out across different states to demand an end to police brutality and bad government. But the last protests that held on February 13, 2021, had less than 50 participants appear at the toll gate. The few that made it there were arrested and beaten by the very police force they had fought valiantly for in October 2020.
Government supporters have come out to commend the police for a job well done and state that no protester was hurt. One controversial aide to the Nigerian President, Lauretta Onochie tweeted, ‘Kudos to the @PoliceNG for the professional manner it operated at Lekki yesterday. NOBODY WAS HURT. Best of all, no Police officer was killed nor roasted and eaten. We must applaud you for doing well so that you can take our criticisms of your shortcomings in good faith. THANK YOU’. She shared a video of policemen armed to the teeth ready to face off with unarmed, peaceful protesters along with the tweet.
On the other hand, Debo Adedayo, popularly known as Mr Macaroni has a different report. Mr Macaroni says he went out to protest on February 13 despite being so scared because he knew a few others would. They arrested him as soon as he arrived on the scene alongside 39 other people. He was beaten terribly by the same officers Lauretta claims didn’t hurt anyone.
In a video the comedian put out after the Police released him, he recounts what happened after they arrested him and 39 others. He said, ‘I saw it with my eyes. When we were picked up, we were taken to Adeniji, where we were beaten, we were stripped naked. Everyone was beaten.’
The government has condoned the violence aimed at peaceful protesters, even though it’s unlawful and not following the amended 1999 constitution. Section 39 of the Nigerian 1999 constitution states: ‘Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests’.
Interestingly, President Muhammadu Buhari and other current leaders contested the validity of this law in 2004. Femi Falana represented the case of ‘All Nigeria Peoples Party & Ors. v. Inspector General of Police (2006) CHR 181’. They won the case. Honourable Justice Chinyere, the presiding judge, stated that the only way to violate the right to assemble is if the head of state declares a state of emergency.
She says, ‘In my view, the provision in section 40 of the Constitution is clear, direct and unambiguous. It is formulated and designed to confer on every person the right to assemble freely and associate with other persons. I am therefore persuaded by the argument of Mr Falana that by the combined effect of sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution as well as Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the right to assemble freely cannot be violated without violating the fundamental right to peaceful assembly and association. I agree with Mr Falana that violation can only be done by the procedure permitted by law, under section 45 of the Constitution, in which case there must be a state of emergency properly declared before these rights can be violated. I also agree with Mr Falana that the criminal law is there to take care if protesters resort to violence in the course of demonstration and that once the rights are exercised peacefully, they cannot be taken away’.
Despite this explicit support for the rights to protest from the constitution, the present leadership has continued to resort to violence where peaceful protesters are concerned. During the first set of protests, many alleged that the government funded touts to disrupt peaceful demonstrations. When that didn’t seem to work, they called on soldiers to take over the streets. It ended with hundreds injured at the Lekki Toll Gate. Eyewitnesses say the soldiers also killed and took away the bodies of the deceased from the toll. The government has vehemently denied those claims.
On February 12, 2021, a few hours before the last proposed protest, the government dispatched armed policemen to the toll gate. The aim – to intimidate anyone thinking of even demanding that they do the right thing. They beat up those who refused to be intimidated only by that show of force and showed up.
With each show of violence, the movement weakens on the streets where it is needed. Online, many Nigerians will keep the conversation alive, but most of the population are not even on the internet. German database company, Statista says only 99.05 million Nigerians are internet users as of 2020. In 2019, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) put Nigeria’s population at 201 million. That means only 49.3% of Nigerians needed to help push the movement are online. Worse still, the End SARS movement mostly moves from Twitter which is the sixth most-used platform by Nigerians, according to Statista.
To keep the movement alive, we’ll need radical Nigerians who would do anything for the cause including going to jail, getting beaten or even killed. We need to take on grassroots mobilization, away from social media. We need the support of every Nigerian to make this movement more powerful. The best way to do this is by educating the layman on the streets. They need to understand that things can be better if we had better leaders and cheaper running of the government. They need to see that we can take back Nigeria, and make it great again. But it will require speaking with a united voice.
Sadly, to get to this point where every Nigerian, online or not, is a part of this movement, it will take years. It will require dedication on the part of a few individuals, funding and a ton of volunteers. We already know that we can pull through after the support the movement got online in 2020. But are there any such individuals dedicated to using their lives to push the movement forward?
One thing is sure – Nigerians are tired. The youths have had enough. Even if people are too scared to go back on the streets and the government thinks they’ve won, the movement won’t die. It will take young Nigerians a minute to restrategize. The campaign may ‘die’ slowly, but it will never really end. No matter how many times they push us, we’ll rise again, even if it takes years. But will you do your part to make that happen?
