The effects of the EndSARS protest on the future of Nigeria.

access_time 11 Nov, 2020 08:37 am visibility 335 | comment 0

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Introduction
The recent nationwide EndSARS protest is the beginning of a new kind of democracy in Nigeria. The dividends of democracy have been felt or experienced only by the few people who have been elected to office at one time or the other, while life and the standard of living has continued to deteriorate for the rest of Nigeria. For many years, the people of Nigeria have looked forward to an opportunity to protest the bane of bad leadership and corruption in Nigeria in an attempt to express to the political leaders the pain that bad leadership and corruption has caused Nigerians, locally and internationally. 
BodyOn the 25th of January, 2017, it was announced that Nigerian hip-hop artist, Innocent Idibia better known as TuFace, planned to lead a nationwide protest titled "One Voice" against the Nigerian government on the 5th of February, 2017 which was later moved to the 6th of February, 2017. This planned protest was widely accepted by many other well-meaning Nigerians and the people of Nigeria were also willing to join the protest. It was later learned that the protest will not hold after Innocent Idibia announced that some unaligned interests planned to harmfully hijack the protest.
As a result of the bad governance and corruption in Nigeria, extorting Nigerian citizens and other people living in Nigeria became a source of income to the police. When the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the police was formed, their aim was to combat armed robbery in Nigeria, but, like the police, the members of this special squad were not adequately catered for and so they also joined in extortion of Nigerians. This extortion later turned brutal and many lives were lost while many others were left wounded or frustrated. This police brutality became the most felt pain of bad governance and corruption in Nigeria, and so Nigerians, after a long time of deliberating the issue on several social networks on the internet decided to come out enmasse to protest the police brutality and the protest was titled EndSARS. The slogan EndSARS first appeared on the internet in 2017 as a twitter campaign using the hashtag #EndSARS to demand the disbanding of the SARS unit by the Nigerian government.
ConclusionFollowing the violence that later ended the physical and visible protest, some people may argue that the protest was fruitless and unnecessary, what they do not understand is that Nigerians finally found their voice. The real "One voice". A voice without a face. A voice with no defined or any central leadership. A voice with no one to confront, but everyone. The protest is a call to end bad leadership and corruption in Nigeria. The EndSARS protest may subside, but it will never end. At least, not anytime soon.
Works CitedWikipedia "2Baba Controversies" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2Baba#Controversies>Olanrewaju Oyedeji, Premium Times "Tuface backs off, cancels anti-govt protest" <https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/222566-tuface-backs-off-cancels-anti-govt-protest.html>Yinka Adegoke, Quartz Africa "Nigeria’s EndSARS protests have been about much more than police brutality" <https://qz.com/africa/1925513/nigerias-endsars-protests-about-much-more-than-police-brutality/>Oluwole Ojewale, Brookings "Youth protests for police reform in Nigeria: What lies ahead for #EndSARS" <https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2020/10/29/youth-protests-for-police-reform-in-nigeria-what-lies-ahead-for-endsars/>Stephanie Busari, CNN "Nigeria's youth finds its voice with the EndSARS protest movement" <https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/25/africa/nigeria-end-sars-protests-analysis-intl/index.html>Abosede George, The Washington Post "The roots of the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria" <https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/25/roots-endsars-protests-nigeria/>