The youth-driven #EndSARS protest erupted in different parts of the country in October last year in a nationwide agitation against the nefarious activities of the now-disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the police force in general.
The demonstration, which started peacefully, turned violent after the second week with hoodlums who hijacked the protest hiding under its cover to loot, kill police officers, and torch public properties including police stations. At the peak of the protests, soldiers invaded the protest ground at Lekki Tollgate in Lagos on October 20, 2020, and opened fire on peaceful protesters.
Thursday the 8th of October 2020 is a day many Nigerians will not forget too quickly. It was the day our frustration at the ineptitude of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) had reached its peak and we finally decided to do something about it.
The first use of the END SARS hashtag can be traced back to 2017 where a few disgruntled Nigerian youths took to the internet to complain about how they had been extorted by the SARS officials, the buzz of this topic took a back seat but never died down until the 8th of October 2020 where Nigerians of all age, sizes, and class had tired of raising dust behind their keypads on the internet and decided to replace their phones with placards to show the government that they were not backing down until the SARS unit was disbanded.
The #ENDSARS protest saw the banding nationwide without any form of centralized leadership which just seemed to baffle the Nigerian government even more as there was no leadership to bargain with and that Nigerians were not backing down until their demands were met.
The #ENDSARS protest was unlike nothing we had ever seen, everyone pitched in their way. The protest saw people providing transportation, feeding, and anything else that would ensure the smooth running of the protest-free of charge without being prompted it exposed the true Nigerian trait of oneness and solidarity, but sadly all this was to come to an abrupt end when the Nigerian government opened fire on peaceful protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos. The massacre of innocent citizens at the Lekki tollgate showed the lengths the Nigerian government will go to stop its citizens.
A memorial was set to hold across the federation to remember the lives lost during the protest. In return, the government decided to arrest, unlawfully detain some of the protesters. There are records that many were injured, harassed, and teargassed. A year after the horrible incident nothing seems to have changed, no effective policies have been made to cushion the problems and what made Nigerians agitate for a better life and more importantly to put an end to police brutality. A year after the incident the gunshots still ring clear in our minds as we see the bodies of our brothers and sisters fall to never rise again. We remember them for their valiant efforts towards the betterment of our country Nigeria and that their deaths were not in vain and that we the brothers and sisters they left behind shall carry the mantle till the race is won and evil is vanquished.
Forever in our hearts, the victims of the 20TH of October 2020 Lekki massacre.
AASA PRESS UI 