How Government Mismanaged 2020 #EndSARS Protests

There appears to be a consensus among discerning Nigerians that since Nigeria became an independent nation 61 years ago, most of the people who have been elected to rule the nation have failed and their failure has led to a systemic rot in all sectors of the nation.

This informed why many Nigerian youths took to the streets for more than 10 days in October 2020 to demand an end to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police Force, and also call for police reform. But the response of the government to their civil demands was a brutal force, including the shooting of End SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos on the night of Tuesday, October 20, 2020.

Here are some ways the government has mishandled the 2020 #EndSARS protests.

1. Playing dumb:

The protests had a central message. It was a call for the disbandment of SARS and total reform of the police force, but the government announced yet another lip service ban that many young Nigerians believe will do nothing to stop the unit from committing more crimes. As usual, the government played deaf and blind to the demands and crimes of the unit respectively.

2. Misuse of security personnel:

The peaceful protesters provided everything they needed to sustain themselves on the streets: food, water, shelter, helpline, online radio station, medic, transportation, and security. Those sympathetic to the government reportedly sponsored hoodlums to attack protesters and when that failed, the government deployed police and soldiers to arrest, disperse, and even kill peaceful protesters.

3. Prioritizing property over lives:

To amplify their message, peaceful protesters put up barricades on major roads that turned defeated workers home, recording dipping losses. Every statement from the government was to encourage citizens to get off the streets; they went as far as issuing threats. The core demand for the demonstration was ignored, those killed during the protests were ignored, officers who committed the offences were neither arrested nor prosecuted.

4. Dishonesty:

Instead of addressing the people and apologising for their misdeeds, the government chose to evade responsibility by lying or diverting the blame. Many believe there’s a coordinated disinformation campaign going on, sponsored by the government. It doesn’t help that there is already a huge trust deficit.

5. Forceful dispersal of peaceful protesters:

As was seen on Tuesday, October 20, 2020, the soldiers deployed to the Lekki toll gate in Lagos opened fire on patriotic, peaceful protesters. The same venue that was home to the most peaceful gathering across the country for days where they held a candlelight service and a holy mass was turned in seconds, to a bloodbath with several injured and many reported dead.

6. Defying the constitution:

The 1999 constitution provides everything we need to know about citizens’ rights and the responsibility of elected officials. It would appear, police officers, soldiers, and other public and civil servants are not familiar with the constitution and what it guarantees. Almost every protester has a story of illegal arrest, armed robbery, torture, brutalization, or extortion from people employed to protect them. And when the protests came, state and federal governments did not demonstrate a keen interest to upload the constitution. It has ended in the kind of anarchy Nigerians have not seen since 1993.