My name is Comrade Tunde Abass.
A project manager and Human Right Advocate the past 12 years I have been a victim of police brutality, extortion, and violation of other rights on several occasions. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. My #Endsars protest involvement presented a perfect avenue for me to highlight my displeasure as it relates to the Policing System in Nigeria. I joined the protest on day 2 which was October 8 2020 at Muiz Banire Street close to Commissioner of Police Office Ikeja in company with my fellow “Take It Back” comrades but on our getting there a faction of the protesters led by Rinu Oduala objected to our “revolution now” branded T-shirts and beret worn by some of our comrades to the protest ground.
Seeing Rinu’s body language not being comfortable seeing us at the protest ground judging from our radical approach background against political oppression in Nigeria; the argument was about the likelihood of my group taking over the protest because our movement had been known in Nigeria as a foremost rallying point for Nigerians against police brutality and oppression among other issues centered on social justice unlike the group led by Rinu Oduala who is perceived to be an accidental activist. Rinu Oduala threatened by the presence of my group which forced her and her group moving out towards the protest ground under the bridge at Ikeja which she further moved to the Lagos Assembly Premises in Alausa Ikeja. My follow revolutionaries and I from the “Take It Back” movement began to mobilize Nigerians through the social media, phone calls impressing it on young Nigerians why they needed to come out and join the protest against police brutality and bad governance in Nigeria not knowing that the original plan of Rinu Oduala group was for the protest to end on Friday 9th October, 2020. She had a meeting with the honourable members of the Lagos State Assembly where she indeed assured the Assembly members of the plan to end the protest on Friday, afterwards she left the protest ground with her group that included the DJ, preventing a vacuum myself and my fellow “Revolutionnow” comrades decided to take over proceedings at the protest ground.
Surprisingly Rinu Oduala tweeted same day she left the protest ground that the protest had ended labeling the remaining protesters at the Lagos House of Assembly ground as hoodlums. It was not surprising that the DSS officials emerge from nowhere in the middle of the night asking us to stop protesting and leave the protest ground immediately. My fellow comrades Juwon, Proficience, Wiseman, Abiodun Sanusi, Eroms Adene ,myself and other protesters who I cannot remember their names but literarily fed up with Police brutality and harassment choosed to sleep at the barricade we mounted at Alausa, it was not fortuitous that the protest will extend to Lekki Toll Gate and other parts of Lagos. Everyday of the protest we were matching from the protest ground to Ikeja under bridge thrice a day(Morning, Afternoon & Evening) along the line I suggested that we should take the protest to the next level shutting down Lagos Ibadan expressway which was the first road shutdown mooted. The ongoing success recorded became a source of worry to the State Government who later sponsored hoodlums to the protest ground with the sole mission of dislodging violently our peaceful protests.We saw those hoodlums disembarking from the Lagos BRT buses armed with cudgels, cutlasses, knives and other dangerous weapons with which some of my fellow comrades were severely injured, maimed, while some of our personal belongings were indeed stolen by these hoodlums.
We had to regroup after this onslaught to re-strategise providing a line of defense against further attacks. On the 20th October, we saw the RRS Police units move their armoured tank close but not too far from our protest ground and the military personnel also came well loaded in three Toyota Peugeot vehicles; but the overwhelming resistance from the protesters forced the military men deploy to exit abruptly the protest premises afterwards. It was followed by the declaration of a curfew same day by the Governor of Lagos State. I was trekking home due to the latest development of an imposed curfew but not quiet five minutes walk from the protest ground i suddenly heard gunshots, tear gas and all sorts from the protest ground at Alausa which forced me running helter skelter in other direction to escape gunshots flying here and there. October 20 - 2020 is a day I will never forget. #endsarsmemorial2 #Justiceforallvictims #Nojusticenotollgate