7 Billion Impressions, 2 Million Posts in 30 days – How Young Nigerians Are Using Twitter And WhatsApp To Coordinate EndSARS Protests
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms have helped to amplify the voices of ‘Arab Spring’ protesters that led to the ouster of strong leaders in the Middle East between 2011 and 2013. It has also helped to bring to the forefront of international conversations the plight of protesters in Hong Kong, Black Lives Matter protesters in the United States, and other parts of the world.
In the last five years, Nigerian millennials have also keyed into the power of technology and social media for social movements that they hope will bring lasting change to the agelong issue of brutality, harassment, extortion, and extrajudicial killings of young Nigerians by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) a notorious unit in the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
In 2016, just a few years after online activism went global in 2011 with the Arab Spring protests which spread across the Middle East and forced political leaders to resign from office, Nigerians became emboldened to challenge their oppressors in the security agencies by using Twitter to call global attention to their plight with the hashtag #EndSARS.
Since SARS was established to combat rampant cases of armed robbery and other violent crimes, at least 50 young Nigerians have reportedly been killed, hundreds have been extorted, and tortured with many undocumented others.
In the last 10 years, the unit has abandoned its core objective; becoming notorious for torturing, extorting, and killing young Nigerians after wrongly profiling them as internet fraudsters, while the government and the police authorities watch without taking any serious action to hold the officers to account.
The Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU) of the Nigeria Police Force, records show that it has received about 10,000 complaints from victims of police harassment across the country in the past five years.
The atrocities of SARS are not new, they have just now been placed at the centre of nationwide conversations, and it doesn’t appear the activism will die down soon. Young Nigerians are crowdfunding, organising, and protesting. What do they want? Total disbandment of the notorious unit of the NPF, called SARS.
And their main tools are Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook Groups, and Instagram.
Since October 3, 2020, online protests calling for the ban of SARS have received a new wave of support from stars like Wizkid, Davido, Runtown, Mr. Macaroni, Toke Makinwa, Falz, Genevieve Nnaji and many others. Notable Nigerians are not just supporting with social media posts, they’re also leaving the comforts of their homes to join in the protest.
The new wave of protests was prompted by a graphic footage shared on social media on Saturday October 3, 2020, showing SARS officers allegedly shooting and killing a young man in front of Wetland Hotel, Ughelli, Delta state, and speeding off in the victim’s car. Also on the same day, another footage of SARS officers dragging two men from a Lagos hotel and shooting one of them in the street was shared on Twitter.
Following the outrage that trailed the viral footage, on Sunday October 4, 2020, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, announced the ban of SARS from carrying out routine patrols, stop and search duties, mounting of roadblocks and traffic checks across the country.
The announcement is the fourth from the Police authorities and the Federal Government in four years.
In what appears to have become an annual routine, in December 2017, former IGP, Ibrahim Idris, promised to restructure and reposition SARS for effective service delivery. In June 2018, Idris also announced a ban on SARS from conducting stop and search operations on roads, two months later, in August 2018, he ordered an immediate overhauling of SARS in compliance with a directive by then acting president, Yemi Osinbajo.
In January 2019, a new IGP, Mohammed Adamu, ordered the disbandment of FSARS in response to the killing of a footballer Kazeem Tiamiyu by SARS officers in Ogun State. Adamu also directed state police commissioners to command the squads in their locations, again, the menace did not end. The recent outrage which started on Saturday October 3, has once again forced the government to announce a ban of some activities of SARS.
Nigerians who no longer take the government’s statement on SARS seriously insist on a ban of the unit and threatened to take to the streets in protest if their demands are not granted. They argue that previous bans yielded no result as SARS officers are still on the streets daily harassing, torturing, extorting and killing Nigerians youths.
They described the annual ban as the government’s way of shutting the people whenever they are outraged over SARS atrocities.
Music artistes Falz and Runtown, comedian Mr Macaroni and thousands of Nigerians insisted on taking to the streets for a peaceful protest to demand the disbandment of SARS.
“This has gone long enough and now we MUST take action! I’ll be leading a protest to #ENDSARS on Thursday, 8th October 2020. They MUST listen to us, they MUST make/effect REAL and VISIBLE changes! Empty promises won’t work this time!!!” Runtown wrote on social media.
Falz also wrote, “We are sick of having to complain about one police incident or the other. The people that are supposed to be protecting us are harassing us, they are robbing us and killing. These men must get off our street.”
Wizkid also tweeted at Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu saying, “Mr Governor! I met with you December 2019! You expressed how proud you are of the entertainment industry and all we do. Pls do something, let’s be proud of you too abeg ! #Endsars!!”
As promised, Falz, Runtown and other protesters took to the streets on Thursday and marched from Lekki toll gate to Onikan in Lagos. Mr. Macaroni and others gathered at the entrance of the Lagos Governor’s Office to protest and demand for the disbandment of SARS.
Since the protests started in Lagos on Thursday, it has spread to Abuja, Osun, Delta, Imo State and other parts of the country, even as Nigerians in the diaspora have promised to join the protest.
The gory images of victims brutalised by police seen on social media have further fuelled anger among other Nigerians who have now chosen to support the protests. Hashtags, tweets, pictures, videos, from enraged online and street protesters, are all driving a historic protest against SARS while foreign nationals from the United States, Ghana, Spain and other parts of the world have also joined the online protest.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in a statement by his media aide, Laolu Akande on Sunday said he is worried about the SARS menace.
“I am very concerned, in fact, very angry about what I see, happening to young men and women who are arrested, in some cases maimed or killed by men of the police force,” Osinbajo said.
Meanwhile, Police spokesperson, Frank Mba, has said the unit cannot be disbanded.
Mba said “What we need to do is to reform SARS and make them responsive, responsible and make them work in accordance with laid down procedures. We need them to continue to respond to violent crimes. We need them to continue to respond to armed robberies. We need them to continue to respond to kidnappings.”
As #EndSARS trends at number one spot on Twitter worldwide, data obtained by Neusroom on Friday October 9, 2020, revealed that in the last 30 days, the #EndSARS hashtag has had over 7 billion impressions with an estimated 2.2 million tweets from 1.8 million Twitter users.
And many say this is just the beginning.
