Effective ways to driving positive change in the #ENDSARS protests
By: Samuel Agbede
Tags: Nigeria, Endsars, Peace, Growth, Progress

Several days ago, a Nigerian work colleague messaged me asking if I had been following the #ENDSARS protests. As we took a pause on whatever activity we were doing prior to this conversation, our conversation gradually moved into stories we had heard about — victims of the notorious, unpopular SARS — Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

SARS is a Nigerian Police Force unit originally created in 1992 to “deal with crimes associated with robbery, motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and firearms”¹. While these goals are exceedingly positive, the squad, as with many other agencies in the country had deteriorated into an agency associated with corruption*. More specifically and uniquely, the agents are known as agents of terror — inbreeding fear in people. With time, some agents with the aid of negative biases, saw many Nigerian youth as suspects. In a presented bid to “curb” corruption and theft manifested in the form of ‘yahoo yahoo’, robbery and crime, many young people were extorted and tortured without proper legal procedure. When I say negative biases, here is an instance to illustrate — insinuating that a young person with relative comfort levels and wealth had ‘some skeleton in his/her cupboard’ and lumping the person alongside the truly wicked, corrupt criminals, or assuming that a millennial wearing ripped jeans with fancy hair was a robber/online thief in disguise whose choice of clothing had betrayed his/her evil tendencies.

As my friend and I continued our conversation, he mentioned that he could not concentrate at work, that the areas he’d heard about in the protests were areas he was familiar with and that he had taken motor-cycle trips, driven and taken public transportation through those areas. Like me, he had never been assaulted by SARS directly but had heard and read experiences of others. With time, I got to understand why he could not concentrate at work. Some of the stories are truly outrageous e.g a friend of mine, Toni who is a software developer and was extorted of money, or the people who had lost their lives in the protests.

Photo by Nengi Nelson on Unsplash

After some prompting by people and some reading, I start to think and ask myself ways I could get involved and the effectiveness of those steps. I do not believe we should take steps because every other person does, or do things to check a box, or to merely gain social acceptance even though I do sometimes ( :( ). I believe actions should be effective and well-intentioned. After spending some time thinking about this, having conversations with others and also reading, I drafted a few practical ways anybody could get involved (including those who are not based in Nigeria). I am not a columnist or a political writer, and quite frankly, I have not done all of these steps myself and I would consider myself quite naive to the political landscape in Nigeria (definitely not a badge of honor) but here are some thoughts (in no particular order) that come to mind. I would greatly appreciate any critique of them, and please feel free to add more thoughts.

Drive the #ENDSARS conversation on social media, in conversations in homes/families and in organisations : At first, I wondered what the practical advantage of this would be. For instance, what does it matter if I share this? or if I talk about it with friends/family? Later, gently, the following came to mind — we talk about these things to drive the perpetuity of these conversations: the reality of sad aspects of the world we live in in a bid to hopefully initiate, drive and secure positive change. Every new useful conversation is like an additional drop of fuel in a burning furnace. It contributes to increasing awareness, to keeping the fire burning until hopefully we secure the change we desire. It is worthy of note that whilst having these conversations, we should not merely complain alone, but we should also thoughtfully add or listen for ways in which we can drive the positive change. Read, immerse yourself in knowledge about the situation : In moments like this, it is very easy to take sentimental steps which could result in clamouring for change with either faulty premises, or making demands built on a gross mis-understanding of the potential ripple effects of what we clamour for. Perhaps, a few interesting questions to think about would be:

a. What specifically are the demands we clamour for?

b. If the government ends SARS, what measures are to be put in place to hopefully still achieve the initial goals SARS was created to accomplish?

c. What are the issues stopping the police force from implementing a termination of SARS?

d. How can the people of Nigeria help in these next step efforts?

Only when we think holistically about the situation we are in, can we truly with confidence make demands backed with the forces of reason, practicality given our contexts and of course equity! Actions taken/demands made with faulty premises can easily be rebuffed, or dismissed as childish or inconsiderate. A friend of mine added that we should educate others as well. Donate to causes that promote peaceful protests : We truly live in unprecedented times. This year alone, we have seen the Covid, the Black Lives Matter protests and protests all over the world. However, the massive peaceful protests currently going on in Nigeria, majorly spear-headed by the youth in this scale is truly unprecedented. People have donated food and water for protesters, popular movements such as churches and mosques, celebrities have gotten involved and several thousand youth have taken to the streets for peaceful protests. Thankfully, there are organisations that are very transparent about donations coming in, to help the peaceful protests and to disburse funds appropriately in the peaceful protests across the nation. Apart from servicing protest logistics, donations can be channeled to victims/families affected either by SARS or unrest in some areas due to the protests. There seems to be an interesting, albeit relatively unique shift ongoing in Nigeria at this time. I wonder, could this be the future of the positive Nigeria we so often speak about albeit in unmotivated terms? Keep our eyes on the price : Perhaps unsurprisingly, protests like this can be used to play politics, to throw aspersions on parties or certain groups. I believe the core of the EndSARS protest is simple — a fight against injustice, and incredibly terrible policing, a fight against an ineffective legal system that keeps mute while injustice goes on. Our fight is ‘not against flesh and blood’. We are not partisan. We simply speak out against injustice, talking the talk, and hopefully walking the walk (metaphorically and literally). A friend of mine who reviewed this article mentioned that keeping our eyes on the price does not only apply during protests, we should do so during elections as well and not sell our votes for money. Keep the protests peaceful — In terms of agitation, particularly when so much has been lost, and with so much hurt going around, it can be easy to incite violence, as already seen in a certain areas across Nigeria already. I please beckon on anyone reading this, please keep the protests peaceful and as we all contribute, we all march either with our legs, our social media handles, our spheres of influence until victory is hopefully secured. Pray for our country and leaders — I am a firm believer in the power of prayers. I do believe as a person of the Christian faith that there is incredible power in prayers and that we should pray for wisdom for our leaders, for protection in the country and for peace to reign.

Photo by Salem Ochidi on Unsplash

Every additional voice, every step in the right direction matters. There is a poem I love so much called Awaken by Lawrence Tribble. It goes:

“One man awake,

Awakens another. The second awakens

His next door brother. The three awake can rouse

A town By turning the whole place

Upside down. The many awake

Can cause such a fuss It finally awakens the

Rest of us. One man up,

With dawn in his eyes Surely then

Multiplies”

Like Nelson Mandela’s autobiography title, ‘The long walk to freedom’, our walk is one to justice and a Nigeria we so really deserve — one of peace and unity as our anthem says. The road may be long, but I think this generation may have decided to take the first steps.

*It is important that I clarify that not all SARS agents operate with evil intentions. In fact, I once read that in Northern Nigeria, SARS has been instrumental in driving positive change. However, the amount of negative news shared about SARS has tainted the overall image of the police unit.