What started out as peaceful protests by youths all over Nigeria calling for #EndSars #EndPoliceBrutality and #ReformPolice became chaotic as protesters were killed at the Lekki Toll Gate and across other locations around Lagos and the rest of the country.
What followed was anarchy as hoodlums and thugs reigned supreme as they embarked on wanton destruction and vandalization of properties, and attacks on protesters, police officers and innocent citizens while at it. The law enforcement agents vacated the streets while this was going on, leaving the citizenry to their fate.
Nigeria will not end me
-Oke, 3 hours before he was stabbed at home, October 21 2020
Lives were lost during and up to the moment of this post. Even though there is no official number of casualties, as at the time of this post (and no official death toll or confirmation of deaths, to date), the videos and missing persons’ announcements on social media since the night of the Lekki killings indicate a high number.
Our hearts go out to those who lost family or friends during this time. We hope you and your loved ones are well and staying safe during this very difficult time.
Our regular October – December issue had long been ready for release this month but we held back and brought you this special edition of MC! where we document, in photos, a special period in the lives of youths in Nigeria – the #EndSars protests – during which they peacefully took to the streets to speak out against the abuse of powers by members of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and brutality by members of the Police Force.
————————————
3 years later… the story remains the same, a cosmetic fix while the underlying issues still lays bare. Some of the protesters from October 20th 2020 protest are still locked up in various prisons across the country. With many others still missing, presumably dead, justice is still beyond reach.
In july this year, news filtered in that the Lagos state government were secretly planning on holding a mass burial for 103 victims of the End Sars protests, facing a lot of backlash, they succumbed, pushing the mass burial to a later date to allow families of the slain identity their loved ones.
3 years on, justice is yet to be served, SARS has been disbanded but the members of the rogue unit were drafted into other departments of the police force yet the harassment never stopped, the ransom demands never stopped, they have since continued perpetuating the same illegalities that made the SARS unit see its end. 3 years on citizens are still asking for justice for the injured and the slain and until true justice is achieved, things are never going to change. In the words of Marian Wright Edelman;
The challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place.
Marian Wright Edelman
