Trauma, Lessons, Motivations Behind 2020 #EndSARS Protest Massacre, by Tunmise Ajeigbe

In the year 2020 I was practically living in Northern Nigeria, Katsina State to be precise and this time, I got exposed to so many misconceptions we don’t understand as Southerners living in Nigeria. There is one ugly reality about me which raised lots of questions challenging myself if perhaps I’m not in the middle of mixing partisanship with patriotism.

Exactly today four years ago, my country, Nigeria had the feelings of how terrible it is to give hungry men guns for security purposes without providing proper welfare resulting into a catastrophic scene which cut-short lives of many youths and ruined ambitions of several for exercising a constitutional right for staging protest.

During this era in from the year 2019 to 2020, Nigeria saw high rate of police brutality and extra judicial killings by men in uniform. A department in the Nigerian Police Service charged with the responsibility of dealing with robbery and fraud cases, Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS turned against Nigeria youths, believing young Nigerians can’t keep a good life without engaging in illegality. This SARS department was popular for killing innocent youth and going away with it. Some concerned youths organized themselves and began a campaign against the ill-actions by the SARS which widespread to a massive national protest Nigeria and infiltrated by unknown mobs who unleashed the intention of destructing government and private properties.

For me, I never ones supported the #EndSARSProtest and its protesters on the basis that it is a “wrong war”. The clamors laid down by protesters are baseless and by far unreasonable. I drawn my reasons from angle of viewing functions of SARS in the Northern Nigeria, A brutal security force in the southern Nigerian and A very functional security agent in Northern Nigeria heavily helping in fighting terrorism in the region. This is a twisted fate many Nigerians never understood this time. Some colleagues accused me of defending my mum’s job as to justify my own concern.

 This is a simple theory, let’s say Nigerian Police System got crushed for 24 hours, do you think Nigeria can bear the outcome? This means armed robbers can work without panic, kidnapping business will soar higher and awful people will take advantage to leverage on the horrible situation. In my note, calling for the disbandment of SARS is a misplaced priority. I hope the protest should directly tailored to the authorities by calling for end bad governance. Bad governance is the bedrock of bad policing. I expected such momentum should been used to directly address mis-governance reigning during BUHARI’s tenure as president.

Exactly four years ago, innocent lives were ghastly murdered in a mass killing by unknown gunmen, further investigations by international media revealed gunmen in uniform were behind the massacre without traces of identity. These were guiltless individuals only calling change for the better with the hope to see their dreams and aspirations come true in their nation but their hope were dashed away by unknown sponsored armed-men.

Unfortunately during the protest, SARS was renamed to Special Weapons and Tactics SWAT living same men to continue with their horrific acts. Four years down the line, Nigerians have not yet learnt any lessons from this fouls of the past. Every blessed day in Nigeria, cases of police brutality and extra judicial killings still persist. Government of the day is acting alien toward ensuring security of lives and properties of its people. This is sad and it is our reality in Nigeria.

I didn’t endorse the End SARS protest because of my ideological reasons, a fight like such should be fought from genesis not from the outset. Starting to cut down a tree from the trunk to the apex will only knock-off the tree for while, the spared root can be nourished to grow the tree again. The tree is this context is hazard caused by police brutality, the trunk is the police themselves and apex are unknown gunmen in uniform, while the root is the government. Government is responsible for any reaction given to citizens by the police. How can government equipped men with weapons and subject them to life torture in poverty and expect a magic? How? An hungry man is an angry man. I can never justify the bad act of police brutality because my mum is a retired police officer. I can only engage in meaningful discussions enhanced with strategy to better our lives as Nigerians, and with this alone, I have shown my patriotism.

This is my Sunday Motivation

 Happy Sunday!

Tunmise Ajeigbe is a Nigerian journalist and, a public affairs analyst.

He is a PhD student at Cyprus International University.

He can be reached via ajeigbetunmise1996@gmail.com and +234 814 610 9636