A decentralised social movement called #EndSARS organised a number of large-scale demonstrations against police brutality in Nigeria.
Human rights activist and convener of the #RevolutionNow campaign in Nigeria, Omoyele Sowore, has stated that the #EndSARS protest could not achieve much for people because there was no revolutionary leader to drive the movement.
Sowore, who was also the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2019 and 2023 general elections, said these during an interview session in a podcast held by Noble Nigerian Network, while describing October 20, 2020 as the weakest day in Nigerian history due to the massive killing of innocent souls by security operatives without any consequence.
He said, “I definitely think that after #RevolutionNow, a lot of people became clear that government could be confronted. But again #ENDSARS fell short of what people could have achieved because it did not have revolutionary leadership. I was the one who started #ENDSARS in Abuja by going to the headquarters of the police. I was the one who invited a lot of the people, also participated in #ENDSARS privately.
“The critical junction for #ENDSARS to become a revolution was the day after the shooting at Lekki. The night of October 20, 2020 was the weakest day of Nigerian states because it has already killed innocent people.”
A decentralised social movement called #EndSARS organised a number of large-scale demonstrations against police brutality in Nigeria.
SaharaReporters reports that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), an infamous Nigerian Police squad with a lengthy history of abusing Nigerian residents, was called for to be abolished in the slogan.
The protest's name comes from a 2017 Twitter campaign that demanded the disbandment of the unit by the Nigerian government, using the hashtag #EndSARS.
Following further disclosures of the unit's misdeeds, which in October 2020 gave rise to a revival, large-scale protests broke out in Nigeria's major cities, eliciting loud anger on social media.
On Twitter alone, the hashtag has been included in more than 28 million tweets.
Solidarity protests and demonstrations by Nigerians in diaspora and sympathizers occurred in many major cities of the world. The protests are notable for its patronage by a demographic that is made of entirely young Nigerians.
The movement has since expanded to include demands for good and accountable governance, considering the unprecedented hardship in the country.