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The #EndSARS Protests and the Government’s Ever-Growing Incompetence

Makua AdimoraMakua Adimora

Since last week, the peaceful protests clamouring for the dissolution of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), as well as total reform of the police force, have been breaking out across the country and the world. From Lagos to Geneva, Nigerian youths are assembling en masse to peacefully but defiantly protest years of police brutality and injustice. Their demands have been as precise as can be: the immediate dissolution of SARS, top to bottom police reform, and prosecution of all officers involved in the lawlessness, both past and present. These requests are simple and shouldn’t be too difficult to honour as what we are asking for are our fundamental human rights, except, of course, the Nigerian government has no regard for our lives, and its ever-growing incompetence has been extremely glaring since the protests began. 

The government’s ineptitude in efficiently leading the people has been the norm for decades, to the extent that we have become accustomed to not relying on them for basic amenities. We provide our power, water, build our shelters, and fund our education, with negligible aid from the government. In addition to this, we spend every day more or less enslaved, working for peanuts just to fend for ourselves, and the one thing we ask is to be safe while we do so, but it seems even that is too much to ask from our leaders. 

Sunday, October 11th, just a week after putting out a statement banning SARS operatives from harassing and infringing on the privacy of citizens, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, released yet another statement, this time “dissolving” the rogue police subset and announced that all officers in the unit will be immediately redeployed to other units. Shortly after the statement was dispersed across the Nigeria Police Force’s social media accounts, the Nigerian youth were sceptical in their response, as they recalled that similar declarations had been made in the past, with no lasting effect on the supposed change. 

In response to the announced “dissolution”, the Nigerian youth came up with a list of exact demands, which includes the immediate release of all arrested protesters, justice for the families of SARS victims, and more. On Monday, October 12th, President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the nation, stating that the dissolution of SARS is the first step in the Nigerian Police’s reform and promising to ensure that all those responsible for misconduct and wrongful acts are brought to justice. It is now three days since the president’s address and four since the IGP’s, and nothing has been done, no steps have been made in the direction of the supposed changes they have promised to make. The Nigerian government has failed the youth, time and time again, and these protests are no different. 

As the people have peacefully demanded a cease in the unlawful police brutality, the police force has responded with more brutality. Just moments after the IGP’s address on Sunday, protesters in Abuja were viciously attacked by police officers stationed on the protest routes. They were shot at, tear-gassed, sprayed with water canons, chased, beaten, and for some unlucky ones, arrested and taken into custody. During the protests at Surelere, Lagos on Monday, police officers opened uncontrolled fire on the unarmed protesters, completely unprovoked. In doing so, one of the bullets hit one of their own and they immediately began chasing and arresting protesters in an attempt to frame them for the murder of their colleague. One of such protesters was Ademola “Ojah Bee” Ojabodu, Oxlade’s manager, who was arrested and framed for the murder of the police officer shot that day. He has since been released, but not without many physical and cerebral injuries.

In all this, no police officer has been held accountable for these unwarranted attacks. No one has lost his/her job, and no tangible investigation has been made. Instead, the IGP has gone ahead to establish a “new” Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT)  squad to “fill in the gaps” left by the notorious SARS unit. In a press conference on Tuesday, he ordered all personnel of the disbanded SARS to report at force headquarters in Abuja for debriefing, psychological and medical examination, a process labelled as a prelude to further training and reorientation before being redeployed into mainstream policing duties. The problem with this initiative, however, lies in the fact that there is no efficient database tracing the exact number and identities of the SARS officers; hence the youth are skeptical about the newly assembled squad simply being a different name for the same bandits. The Nigerian youth have deemed it obvious that the IGP is just a figurehead incapable of properly controlling his officers and have since been clamouring for his resignation, with the hashtag #IGPMustResign. 


The state government’s incompetence during these protests has not gone unnoticed. On Saturday, peaceful protesters at Ogbomoso Palace in Oyo state were shot by police officers, killing 20-year old Jimoh Isiaq and two others. In response, rather than opening an investigation to bring the culprits to book, Governor Seyi Makinde instead paid condolence visits to the victims’ families and awarded them a sum of 1 million naira each, while pledging a sum of 100 million towards repairs of the Ogbomoso Palace which was the site of the frenzy that occurred. In response to the planned protest scheduled for Tuesday in Port Harcourt, Governor Wike took to social media to announce a ban on the intended protest, inherently infringing on their sacrosanct right to freedom of assembly. 

Jide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos State, has shown time and time again that he is not for the people. Instead of making plans to meet the youth’s simple demands, he has since been more focused on his usual performative camera optics, “attending” protests in a bid to persuade the youth to rethink their peaceful demonstrations while doing next to nothing to ensure these protests are safe for the citizens. On the 15th of October, a bus filled with armed thugs stormed the Alausa protests as the hoodlums embarked on wreaking havoc and attacking the protesters. Putting into perspective that said bus is Lagos State-owned, and the police officers on standby simply watched the attacks take place, one can’t help but wonder where the state government’s loyalty lies. Not long after the governor made a speech addressing the Alausa attacks, at midnight, videos showing the supposedly disbanded SARS operatives raiding citizens’ homes in Pedro, Yaba, Surulere and Shomolu, and kidnapping them, surfaced online. Many frantically called on the governor via social media to step in but we are yet to receive a response. 


The government has shown that they do not have the youth’s best interests at heart on this matter, and so their pleas for an end to the protests will not be honoured until tangible steps have been made in our favour. The disbandment of SARS is a good first step, but accountability from the government is needed. Since the protests began, ten people have died, and no action has been taken; investigations need to be made, and disciplinary action needs to commence. Unruly police officers need to see their peers face certain consequences to know not to attempt any unlawful behaviour. It is important for the government to acknowledge and honour our immediate demands to show us that the people whose duty it is to serve us are doing exactly that. To every young Nigerian lending their voice, time, and resources to this worthy cause, well done. We can’t and shouldn’t let up our demand for the Nigeria we and the future generations deserve!

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