#EndSARS Revolt Rocks Nigeria*

Angry youths took over the streets in cities and towns across Nigeria in October, calling for disbandment of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force, whose operatives were trained and supplied equipment by the British government from 2016 to 2020.

The largely peaceful protests were drowned in blood on Tuesday 20th October. In the wake of the massacre, there were violent clashes with scores of police stations torched, several jailbreaks and a festival of ‘looting’. The restoration of law and order in the dying days of the month might however not translate into a restoration of the pre-EndSARS normality in the country.

SARS was established in 1992. Its plainclothes operatives were meant to infiltrate robbery gangs to nip their operations in the bud. By the turn of the century they started apprehending online scammers as cybercrime became common. 

Young men with tattoos or dreadlocks automatically became ‘419’ (online scam) suspects. Having an iPhone or laptop, or driving a flashy car was also enough reason for them to be accosted. But behind this seeming overzealousness was a more devious and lethal intent. 

SARS operatives generated fear and lived off it. People who committed no crime were illegally detained and released only when substantial amounts of money were paid as bribes by their relatives. And these were the lucky ones. Torture was used to extract ‘confessions’ and extra-judicial killings were common. 

The first #EndSARS campaign was in 2016. But SARS’ brutal activities continued unabated. After a series of killings in the last quarter of 2017 an online petition was launched and submitted to the National Assembly with 10,195 signatories as #EndSARS protests took place in three major cities. The police were forced to announce a reform of the squad, including banning its officers from stop and search operations - but these never really stopped.

Thus started a pattern that repeated itself in 2018 and 2019. SARS operatives would kill people in cold blood, there would be protests on the ground and online, and the government would announce reform of the dreaded body. This went as far as a name change from SARS to Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS) announced by Professor Taiwo Osinbajo the Vice-President, while acting as President last year.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came in the midst of an increasingly excruciating socio-economic crisis, and the country’s second recession in five years. 

In 2018, Nigeria became the country with the largest number of poor people in the world, despite its oil wealth, with 40% of its 214 million populace living in poverty. Meanwhile, the wealth of its five richest billionaires is enough to wipe out poverty in the country. The unemployment rate has risen threefold in five years, with the youth being hardest hit. One out of every two young people is unemployed. 

The pandemic has exacerbated a terrible situation. Massive layoffs have taken place in several sectors of the economy, including aviation, banking, and hospitality. Several establishments have cut wages, including the public sector where some states’ governments unilaterally instituted Covid-19 funds, into which they deducted upwards of a quarter of workers’ salaries. Without a national security scheme, the  Covid confinement left the self-employed in the informal economy (which accounts for two-thirds of the labour force) shattered. And credit opportunities to restart their businesses have dried up.

The social situation was thus incendiary when the video of a youth killed by the police in Ughelli, a city in the Niger delta region, was widely circulated on social media on 3rd October. The following day there were calls for a national protest on twitter. The three loudest voices were Falz and Runtown - both popular musicians - and Omoyele Sowore, National Chair of the African Action Congress Party and a leader of the Coalition for Revolution (CORE), which reignited a sustained culture of street protests last year with the launch of the CORE RevolutionNow campaign. The last of the nationwide RevolutionNow demonstrations before the EndSARS revolt was on 1st October. 

The revolt commenced on 8th October in more than 20 of the 36 states of the federation. Protesters occupied the front of the State House of Assembly in Lagos, the most populous state with a population of 21 million, and were there all day and all night until 20th October. Following this, the major tollgate in the middle class Lekki area of the state became the second centre. In Abuja, the federal capital territory, protesters occupied the city centre.

The movement declared itself “leaderless”. A lot of mobilisation and co-ordination was done online. Celebrities joined in the mobilisation. Attempts to advance more radical demands beyond the unifying #EndSARS position were initially rebuffed by the louder voices on the blogosphere.

Within three days government proclaimed an outright ban of SARS. But the protesters were not to be deceived. Considering the history of futile bans and reform of the squad, the barricades were not taken down. The government responded with water cannons and teargas, particularly in Abuja, where protesters were arrested on 11th and 12th October. 

The protesters came up with a ‘5for5’ set of demands: immediate release of all arrested protesters; justice for victims of police brutality and compensation for their families; an independent body for investigation and prosecution of police misconduct; a new police Act with psychological evaluation and retraining of all operatives of the disbanded SAS; and an increase in police salary.

On 13th October, the Inspector General of Police accepted the ‘5for5’. But that same day he announced the replacement of SARS with a Special Weapons and Tactical (SWAT) unit. This angered the protesters and their ranks swelled. The state tried to break the demonstrations. Its main instrument was hired hooligans. More than six protesters were killed that week. 

It was clear that something would have to give as another week began on 18th October. The movement’s demands now included #EndBadGovernance and the ‘Buhari Must Go’ calls which, initially muted, began finding loud resonance in the demonstrations. Mass anger also spilled out beyond the protest areas. A police station was burned down in Lagos on 19th October. And the gates of two prisons were smashed in the mid-western Benin City.

Protesters picture in Lekki - before the 20.10.20 massacre 

The state and its right wing thugs went on the offensive. The attacks on protesters became more severe. More people got killed and dozens of cars of protesters were burned in Abuja. And on 20th October the state drowned the movement in blood. More than 46 people were killed across the country. The bulk of this was at the Lekki tollgate, where the army also prevented ambulances from moving in. At least two were also killed in Alausa.

The military first described the Lekki killings as fake news. The governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu also initially claimed no one was killed. Two days later, President Muhammadu Buhari made a national broadcast. He said not a word about the massacre. Rather, he made it clear that the state would not tolerate any further breakdown of law and order. Some of the groups behind the movement stepped back because of the threat. But the peaceful movement itself had receded with the repression, though there would still be pockets of EndSARS demonstrations till 1st November.

New storms seized the streets. Pent up anger against the police burst through the seams. Over 200 police stations were burned across the country and more than 20 policemen killed. Shopping malls were also vandalised and looted. And across all the regions, tens of thousands of people stormed warehouses where state governments kept bags of rice, noodles, and local staples. These were Covid-19 palliatives that should have been distributed to the poor, but which were kept for patronage.

In the last days of October, the police in several states conducted house-to house searches and arrested hundreds of “looters”. Most were those who stormed the warehouses for food. A Judicial Panel of Inquiry And Restitution for Victims of SARS-Related Abuses was set up by the Lagos state government. It has already found incontrovertible evidence of the military’s role in the Black Tuesday massacre. Similar panels have been set up across the states.

We might not have seen the end of resistance to police brutality. Struggles against the rising cost of living are also likely to erupt in the coming period. A missing social force in the recent uprising was the trade unions which have a contradictory history of leading mass struggles and making rotten deals with the state. At the last minute they called off a general strike to protest against sharp increases in fuel prices and electricity tariffs on 28th September. In the wake of the #EndSARS revolt, the union bureaucracy will find it more difficult to resist rank and file pressures to lead  the major battles that lie ahead.

First published in Labour Briefing November 2020 edition