As 2020 became an awakening to the horrors of police brutality, violence and systemic racism, Nigerian youth led a movement for a long-needed change.
Earlier in October, a tweet by @AfricaOfficial2 went viral. It reported that Special Anti-Robbery Squad officers in Nigeria had shot a young boy and left his body by the side of the road in Ughelli, Delta State in Nigeria.
In the following days, young people took to the streets in a wave of protests across several cities—signs in hand, fists raised—calling for the abolition of SARS.
The #EndSARS movement spread beyond Nigerian borders, leading to solidarity protests in different parts of the world.
Following the demonstrations, a tweet by the Nigerian presidential office Twitter account announced the SARS unit was disbanded.
However, the movement extended beyond police brutality to include wider issues of corruption, poverty and government, according to Nduka Otiono, a Carleton associate professor of African studies.
“#EndSARS became a metaphor, in my opinion, for the systemic rot across various facets of the Nigerian life involving government,” Otiono said.
Otiono isn’t the only Carleton community member impacted by #EndSARS. Carleton students felt the reverberations of the movement on the other side of the world.
The issue of SARS
SARS was a Nigerian Police Force unit created in 1992 to combat violent crimes such as robbery and kidnapping. However, throughout the years, SARS has been accused of human rights violations.
A 2020 report by Amnesty International documents 82 cases of extortion, torture and extrajudicial killings between June 2017 to May 2020 committed by SARS operatives.
“SARS officers continue to subject detainees in their custody to torture and other forms of ill-treatment with total impunity,” the report reads.
Following empty promises of reform and accountability, Segun Awosanya, a Nigerian realtor and human rights activist, launched the #EndSARS hashtag in 2017 as a social campaign to petition against SARS’s conduct.
Otiono said the Nigerian government allowed SARS to keep operating in spite of the public outcry, until the recent #EndSARS protests.
“Each time there has been major incidents around SARS, the government comes up with ways to assuage the public’s objection to the oppression of SARS,” Otiono said.
Oluwadamilare Fakolujo, a fourth-year global and international studies student at Carleton University, was born in Nigeria and moved to Canada in 2013. He said while he knew about the #EndSARS movement, he doubted it would gain momentum.
“People had always called for reform and change but I wasn’t sure if it would take off,” he said.
As the movement gained momentum, Fakolujo said he realized the gravity of the crisis.
“I didn’t realize it had reached the extent of killings,” he said.
Otiono said better organization made the 2020 #EndSARS movement more effective. Groups like the Feminist Coalition set up a crowdfunding campaign to provide protesters with medical and legal aid, as well as relief for victims of police brutality.
United States anti-Black racism protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, which call for criminal justice reform and an end to police brutality, also provided momentum for the #EndSARS movement, according to Otiono.
“The EndSARS coming within the post-Floyd era in the U.S. also helped to spark the kind of global reception it has received,” Otiono said.
Impact on the African diaspora
On Oct. 20, peaceful protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, Nigeria, were faced with excessive force by the Nigerian army and police. An investigation conducted by Amnesty International confirmed that peaceful protesters were shot and killed.
For many African students in Canada, watching this fight for human rights unfolding on the other side of the world from their screens was a chilling experience.
“It brought so much tears because obviously if you’re not from a predominantly Black environment, racism is very apparent,” said Tinu Akinwande, Carleton University Students’ Association vice-president (student issues). “To see your own people instill those same inhumane practices, it’s very disappointing.”
Akinwande, who is of Nigerian descent but was born in Saudi Arabia, said she is familiar with the actions of SARS because of her mother’s upbringing.
She said she recognized being in Canada privileged her over those who are on the frontlines in Nigeria.
“I’m kind of in a privileged place because I don’t need to be in the streets as of now,” she said. “It made me think [about] what I can actually do for my people.”
“Personally, it’s made me frustrated,” she said. “It’s already hard to organize myself. It’s my first year of college and it’s online—I think that’s difficult enough.”
Gideon Oti-Gyamfi, president of the Carleton University Ghanaian Students Association, said he shares the same frustration as Tchuate.
“I felt as if [Nigerians] were crying out for help, but it was hard to see where help would be coming from, as their own government is the one that is trying to suppress them,” he said.
Although the #EndSARS movement gathered global support this year, the call against police brutality is long overdue.
Africa in the media
Eunice Avonyo, Carleton University Ghanaian Students Association’s vice-president (finance), said she felt the #EndSARS movement “wasn’t getting the attention that it needed compared to the Black Lives Matter [movement] in North America right now.”
She explained the way Africa is covered in the media influences the public’s reaction to crises in African countries.
“People in the western world view African crises differently than they do in North America or in any part of the world like European countries,” she said.
She referenced the work of Binyavanga Wainaina, How To Write About Africa, which tackles the stereotypes western writers perpetuate about Africa.
“He was telling a story about how people choose to view Africa as a violent place,” she said. “So when it comes to the media finally showing what’s going on, they blame the people instead of the leaders.”
Oti-Gyamfi, who is also Ghanaian but grew up in Canada, reflected on the media’s portrayal of Africa. He explained African media representation is usually reduced to television donation advertisements or news coverage of political crises and natural disasters.
Binyavanga was a frequent contributor here at Granta. As a student, he sent the magazine a strongly-worded letter condemning our 1994 Africa issue. His ironic critique was so incisive and true that we published it.
— Granta (@GrantaMag) May 22, 2019
“Western civilization for a long time, I feel, desensitizes what happens over in Africa as a continent,” Oti-Gyamfi said.
He added news about African issues are often disregarded because western citizens’ view of Africa and Africans has been corrupted.
Oti-Gyamfi also stressed the need to view Africa as a diverse and rich continent with different countries, dialects, cultures, and styles.
Simidele Dosekun, assistant professor of media and communication at the London School of Economics, said western foreign correspondents sent to African countries should be more knowledgeable about the areas they cover.
“Maybe there’s a need for more diversity in those spaces to produce [a] fair or more balanced representation of Africa and including Black Canadian life,” she said.
Dosekun was a speaker at a webinar series titled “Knowing Africa” organized by the Institute of African Studies at Carleton to discuss a variety of topics about Africa.
She explained people in North America should learn about Africa beyond mainstream media representations.
“It’s important for even people who don’t have historical or other connections to Africa to try to know the place, understand the place and also to see Africa in a more realistic way,” Dosekun said.
“They [mainstream media] don’t show the extent of what African people are about.”
As a result of the lack of coverage about these issues, Dosekun advised the public to seek alternative media sources such as grassroots organizations “that might be closer to the action.”
The ups and downs of social media activism
Oti-Gymafi said the world’s current socio-political climate combined with stay-at-home COVID-19 restrictions can affect people’s health more than they might realize.
He suggested students make an effort to stay connected with one another to cope.
“Call your friends,” he said. “Just take the time to at least stay connected to people that you care about and people that care about you.”
Avonyo advised students to take a break from social media for the sake of their mental health.
“I was one of those people that were struggling in this season. It was just too much on me,” she said. “I took a break off social media to get everything back together.”
Avonyo added that belief in a higher purpose can also be comforting.
“I don’t wanna say religious, but I’m very spiritual and I believe that really helped me in this season,” she said.
All Carleton students struggling with mental health issues can access online resources such as Empower Me, a support resource offered by CUSA.
While constant exposure to negative events can be taxing, Akinwande highlighted the importance of speaking up on social media as a way to raise awareness.
“It’s very important to see [public] figures, to see people who look like us say ‘We care about these issues too,’” she said.
However, she said there is a high risk of misinformation online.
“Some people who are in this sphere of influence may not be as knowledgeable,” she said. “Because of their following, they may spew incorrect or inaccurate information that may redirect energy.”
#EndSARS means ending injustice#EndSARS means ending impunity#EndSARS means ending repression pic.twitter.com/GjeAEAxCFe
— Amnesty International Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) February 9, 2021
In addition to spreading the word, Oti-Gyamfi called for actions.
“We need to have people that have platforms to try to implement actual change with them,” he said.
Although there are benefits to using social media in a movement like #EndSARS, Avonyo said she is concerned about social pressure to post.
“This year took a toll on a lot of people,” she said. “With everything else that’s going on, it’s not needed to pressure people to post certain stuff on social media.”
“If you’re ready, you can go ahead and post what you feel like or do what you feel like is supporting the cause,” she added.
Though skeptical, Fakolujo said he remains hopeful that some change is possible.
“It’s just about making sure the change follows through and the people who commit to making that change are held accountable,” he said.
Akinwande recalled an Instagram post she made on Oct. 1 celebrating Nigeria’s 60 years of freedom and resilience, days before the protests.
She said she takes comfort in that her generation and her parents’ generation can speak of liberation.
“Look at how much we’ve achieved in so little time,” Akinwande said.
She also recognized that change—especially structural and systemic change—takes time.
“I, from a very young age, had a feeling that our generation was going to be at the forefront of so much change,” she said. “I’m very hopeful.”
Featured graphic by Tife Bode.
