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A year ago today, at least 44 people were killed in nine separate incidents around the country, most infamously at least nine killed at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos. One year on and justice still eludes the peaceful protesters who were brutally cut down. It is a bitter irony that the very security services whom were the subject of the protests, and in many cases, would have been beneficiaries of the very reforms sought by the protesters, were deeply involved in perpetrating the violence on the people they are sworn to protect.
Despite the mountain of damning evidence from various panels set up in several states to investigate the atrocities, not a single arrest has been made. The best we have gotten is recommendations to pay compensation to victims or families of some of the affected persons.
In a manner of speaking, 20 October 2020 is a logical summation of Nigeria’s issues. If Nigeria never recovers from the current dark place it is in, 20 October 2020 will stand as a huge signpost on that path to perdition. It is a moment of broken trust, and for many, it proved that the #EndSARS protestors were right not to trust the government after promises had been made to reform the F-SARS unit.
The #EndSARS protests was a decentralised group of protests demanding the government disbanded the notorious Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad who routinely wasted innocent lives rather than going after actual robbers. F-SARS officials profiled young Nigerians based on their lifestyle choices and bullied them, to put it mildly. Evidence abound about how F-SARS officers kidnapped, murdered, raped, humiliated and unlawfully detained helpless citizens.
20 October 2020 showed that a huge part of Nigeria’s inability to solve its problems is the disdain of so-called leaders. Lekki on 20 October 2020, and Obigbo in Rivers State in the days after, were not the only case of the Nigerian State killing protesters and hiding their bodies in order to downply the magnitude of the crime. Soldiers removed bodies from the scene of the crimes in Odi, Zaria, Nkpor, and so many other places.
The youths did not believe the government’s promises last year and one year on, no changes have happened. The government has lied some more and disregarded every promise about police reform. Instead, the EFCC has stepped in right where F-SARS left off.
Nigeria’s security forces learnt nothing from the Lekki Massacre. Just last month we saw soldiers stabbing Shiite protesters in Abuja in broad daylight. No one has been reprimanded. Just today, the police, after a “show of force”, deployed tear gas against people memorialising last year’s shooting.
But of course ultimately, they all take their cue from the top. Nigeria’s security architecture is all about regime security. President Buhari is on record saying that the #EndSARS protests were about removing him from office. That is all that matters. Not the fact that security is demonstrably worse under him. Not the fact that the already high, and still rising, unemployment is feeding the army of “bandits” whom his Air Force paid a bribe to retrieve a lethal weapon. Not the fact that people are struggling to eat. All that matters to the man is remaining in power, and in that regard, he is deaf to all else.
Nwanze is a partner at SBM Intelligence.
