The #EndSARS protests, started on a peaceful note two weeks ago gradually descended into chaos as hoodlums joined the agitation in various parts of the country. AKANI ALAKA examines the awry turn in the protest.
As feared by many, the protests across the country against Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, #EndSARS further descended into chaos in many parts of the country this week.
The epicentre of the hobbling crisis against the otherwise noble idea on Monday was unarguably in Benin, the capital of Edo State where the state government was forced to impose a 24-hour curfew to stop rampaging hoodlums who had hijacked the protest from further unleashing havoc on the people.
The hoodlums, who had in the name of embarking on #EndSARS protests turned major roads in the state capital to their cooking and carnival grounds from Sunday attacked a prison and set the inmates free early on Monday. Video clips circulated on Monday showed the supposed EndSARS protesters invading the Oko Prison located on Benin-Sapele Road, before freeing the inmates.
The inmates were also seen scaling the high fence to escape from the facility and dropping their uniforms for new attires outside the facility. The hoodlums also burned down two police stations, vandalized a building housing a television station while also inflicting considerable damages on a couple of buildings owned by the government.
While confirming the incident, Police said the hoodlums who attacked its Ugbekun Oba Market Police Station, as well as Idogbo Police Post, carted away arms and ammunition from the armoury.
“While the government of Edo State respects the rights of its citizens to undertake legitimate protests, it cannot sit idly when hoodlums have taken laws into their hands to cause mayhem on innocent citizens and the state,” the Secretary to the State Government, Osarodion Ogie Esq, said in a statement he issued declaring the 24 hours curfew.
Reports on Sunday had earlier indicated that four persons were reportedly crushed to death in Benin when a Sport Utility Vehicle ran into a group of #EndSARS protesters who slept on the road overnight. The protesters were said to have set a bonfire on the road and slept beside it, when the vehicle ran into them in the incident which occurred along 2nd East Circular Road, by Uwa Junction.
Despite the deployment of soldiers to stop protesters in various parts of the city earlier in the day, at least two persons were feared killed as mayhem broke out at the Apo Mechanic Village in Abuja on Monday when suspected hoodlums hijacked the #ENDSARS protests.
The hoodlums, believed to be sponsored, attacked people randomly and set several vehicles belonging to the #ENDSARS protesters ablaze in the area. In Lagos, the protesters, like in the past few days, blocked the road to the State Government Secretariat, Alausa, where the office of the Governor is situated.
The protesters also prevented movements on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, while the road leading to the local and international airport was also sealed off. It was the same situation in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. In Lagos, protesters attacked some policemen working for the Rapid Response Squad, destroying their vehicles and injuring at least 19 officers.
Lagos Police spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the RRS men were attacked at Adekunle, Yaba, around 10 am in a statement. “The ninety-seven (97) policemen, who were being conveyed to their various beats on routine relief duties across the state, came across the violent protesters who started shouting “No Police, No Police”, and stoned them.
“After the attacks, nineteen (19) of the policemen were critically injured while four police vehicles were damaged. The policemen, who scampered for safety, were eventually rescued and rushed to the Police Clinic at Panti, Yaba, for medical attention. The protests also led to the disruption of movements in Oyo, Ekiti and other parts of the Southwest on Monday.
As the breakdown of law and order continued in Lagos on Tuesday, with the setting ablaze of the Orile Iganmu Police Station and another in Ajegunle as well as the killing of at least a policeman by hoodlums, the state Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu declared a 24-hour curfew.
In a statement issued by the governor himself, he said that though the state government was supportive of the agitation of the youths, yet it would not stand fly by and watch things degenerate before action is taken.
The statement read thus, “I have watched with shock how what began as a peaceful #EndSARS protest has degenerated into a monster that is threatening the well-being of our society. Lives and limbs have been lost as criminals and miscreants are now hiding under the umbrella of these protests to unleash mayhem on our state.
”As a government that is alive to its responsibility and has shown a commitment to the movement #ENDSARS, we will not watch and allow anarchy in our dear state.
“I, therefore, hereby impose a 24-hour curfew on all parts of the State as from 4:00pm today, 20th October,2020. Nobody, except essential service providers and first responders must be found on the streets.”
On Saturday, the Governor Gboyega Oyetola of Osun State and his deputy, Mr. Benedict Alabi, narrowly escaped death after they were attacked by armed men during an #EndSARS protest in Osogbo, the state capital.
Oyetola was attacked after he addressed and assured protesters of his support to end police brutality. The governor, in a broadcast on Sunday claimed that the attack was an assassination attempt on his life by hoodlums who hijacked the protest. The hoodlums also looted a popular shopping mall in Osogbo among others later in the day.
The #EndSARS protesters in Lagos have taken over the roads in many parts of the state, including the Lekki-Epe Road, which has become their major base for the protesters.
The protesters had also grounded socio-economic activities in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory last Friday and Saturday as they blocked major roads in Abuja resulting in massive gridlocks across the city. However, the Federal Government deployed troops from the Brigade of Guards to frustrate attempt by the protesters to return on Monday.
Also, hundreds of #EndSARS protesters in Kaduna took over major roads, causing traffic gridlock in parts of the city for several hours last Friday and Saturday.
Deaths, deaths and deaths
There are similar blockages of roads by protesters across the country just as the lives lost to the protests keep on climbing as hoodlums and security operatives are unleashing attacks on protesters in different parts of the country.
Anthony Onome Unuode, a protester who was stabbed multiple times by thugs during the protest in Abuja last Friday died on Sunday.
On Saturday, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State led top officials of the state to the Surulere, Lagos residence of Mr. Ikechukwu Iloamauzo, who was shot dead last week during the protest. A police Inspector was also killed during the protest.
A Coalition Of Human Rights Groups on Sunday said at least 13 persons had been extrajudicially killed in the course of the peaceful protest. Ms Idayat Hassan, one of the conveners who signed a statement on behalf of the CSOs alleged that Oyo State recorded four deaths, Edo, two; Ondo, one; Osun, two; and Lagos four. This is in addition to attacks on peaceful assemblies in Oyo, Lagos, Edo, Plateau, Anambra, FCT, Kano and Osun states.
Already, the Federal Government and other stakeholders are citing the increasing violent bent of the protests in some parts of the country as well as disruptions of socio-economic activities by protesters as justifications on why the agitations cannot continue at least on the streets.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: https://www.thexpressng.com/2020/10/21/endsars-rep-ottah-agbo-other-lawmakers-condemn-killing-of-protesters-demand-justice-for-victims/
Protesters demands met
Aside from this, the government and some other stakeholders are also asking the protesters to leave the streets because most of their demands have been met by the government.
Aside from the demand for the disbandment of SARS, the protesters had also demanded the immediate release of those arrested and justice for victims of police brutality, the establishment of an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct as well as psychological evaluation and retraining of all disbanded SARS officers before redeployment.
Besides, the anti-SARS protesters also demanded an increase in the salary of police officers. In response, the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu on Oct. 11 announced the dissolution of SARS outfits across the country and FCT.
The President, Muhammadu Buhari had also said last week that the dissolution of SARS was the first step in the reform of the police. Also, on 13 October, the IGP directed all defunct SARS operatives to report at the Force Headquarters for debriefing as well as a psychological and medical examination to be carried out by the new Police Counselling and Support Unit
Also, at its meeting on 15 October, the National Economic Council directed the states to establish judicial panels of enquiry to receive and investigate complaints of police brutality. The panels, according to NEC, will include representatives of youths, students, and civil society organisations, are to be headed by a respected retired state High Court judge.
The panels have six months to complete their assignments while the governors and the FCT minister were also directed to take charge of the interface and contact with protesters in their domains. Also, the governors were directed to immediately establish a victim’s fund to facilitate the payment of monetary compensation to deserving victims.
Already, some of the state governors have announced the setting up of the judicial panels and establishment of funds to pay compensation to those who had suffered any form of brutality in the hands of the SARs operatives in the past.
Also, the police officers who killed a protester in Lagos is already undergoing orderly room trial while those arrested during the protests in various parts of the country have been released.
Leave the streets now
With those demands met, there is no need for protesters to be on the streets, Senate President Ahmed Lawan said after a closed-door meeting between him, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, and President Buhari at State House in Abuja on Sunday.
He argued that the government would need time to implement the demands of the protesters. “First of all, they said ‘end SARS’ — that was the beginning. SARS was ended, not by the IGP; SARS was ended by the president. President Muhammadu Buhari made a statement — a presidential statement, and that will be the first time that any president will say ‘end SARS’. And SARS has ended. The other issues followed”, said the Senate President.
“We also need to have our economy to continue to go on. When you try to stop everybody from engaging in their businesses, closing the roads to markets and other economic places, we distract the economy of the country, and that is not the best way to go”, he added.
Speaking in the same vein, the Prelate of Methodist Church of Nigeria, Dr Samuel Uche advised the protesters to go home and allow the government to meet their demands. “ I want to advise all the youths to please leave the roads and go home. If anybody has sent them to cause disorder, they should say no to that person and allow this government to perform. Government has been very magnanimous to appeal to them that they will take care of their requests. Why are they still protesting? There is more to the protest than meet the eyes. Let them sheath their sword”, the prelate who spoke with journalists in an interview with newsmen after the ordination service priests and deaconess at the Methodists Cathedral of Unity, Wuse, Abuja said.
Why #EndSARS protesters will not leave now
However, the protesters said they are not ready to leave the streets yet. Aisha Yesufu, the co-convener of #BringBackOurGirls campaign who has become one of the strong voices of the protesters said the fact that the police are still killing many youths during the protest means the message against the brutality of the law enforcement agency is not yet sinking in.
She added that the protesters did not trust the government as there had been many unfulfilled promises of tackling police brutality in the past: “Police brutality has not ended. Protesters are still being killed. The police have a culture of unending brutality. This is not the first time they will be disbanded. The protest is a result of distrust. No police officer has been arrested or brought out for justice. Where is the sincerity of processes?”
The protesters are also angered by the swiftness with which the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu created a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team to replace the defunct SARS. They had expressed fears that officers of the defunct SARS will be drafted into the new SWAT.
Though the Police had said that would not happen, the protesters had insisted that the Police should not go ahead with plans to establish SWAT.
But the Police authorities have gone ahead with the establishment of SWAT, with policemen deployed to the new formation resuming training in various parts of the country on Monday. Besides, the protesters are also increasing their demand beyond agitation for police reform. The protesters have already highlighted a seven-point demand for an end to the #EndSARS protest revolving around institutional reforms, cost of governance, constitutional reforms, education reforms, health reforms, youth affairs and public office reforms.
Others are also asking for the reduction of allowances of National Assembly members, restructuring of the country while, some in the extreme, are asking for the resignation of President Buhari. “While #EndSARS is focused on the immediate concern of a brutish policing system, the protesters are also inherently voicing their anger against a governance system, which has failed to reckon with them. #EndSARS is, therefore, an affirmation of citizen’s readiness to resist bad governance in all its ramifications beginning with inadequate government response over the prolonged trend of police brutality”, the Coalition of CSOs said while noting that the demand of the protesters is now beyond the call to end SARs.
“The accumulated anger of citizens over decades of failure in the delivery of basic social services, endemic corruption, and impunity of political office holders has precipitated distrust of, and lack of confidence in the state and its institutions. These frustrations are visible in the pent-up anger, which has been boiling over in mass street protests in cities across the country”, they noted.
The difficult task of getting protesters off the streets
There are indications that those involved in the organization of the protests, especially in Lagos are not ready to leave the streets. Apart from raising funds to sustain the protests, they have also set an online radio station and a website for the coordination of their activities as at last Monday.
In addition, the continuous flow of accounts of atrocities by officials of the defunct SARS in many parts of the country has continued to fuel the protests.
This is in addition to support for the protest by celebrities and other important personalities within and outside the country. But the government had indicated that it would not allow the protests to go on forever, alleging that it had been hijacked for purposes other than intended.
It is believed that the order for all civil servants to resume work as well as the opening of the camps of National Youth Service Corps, NYSC were all aimed at taking the youths who are the main bone of the protests off the streets.
The Federal Government has also opened talks with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU with the obvious hope that less people will be available for the protests if students return to their campuses.
While begging the protesters to leave the streets, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum in a statement on Monday expressed concern over the shifting nature of the demands.
The NGF said the development creates uncertainty over the exact expectation and ultimate goal of the protesters. “The continuation of the protest has exposed the fragile economic fundamentals of the country, particularly as criminal elements and hoodlums have hijacked the protests by maiming innocent citizens, looting and destroying properties,’’ NGF said in a statement by its chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State also appealed to protesters to vacate the streets.
Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture said since the government had met the five initial demands of the protesters, there was no need for them to continue to occupy the streets.
The Minister who spoke on a programme on the network service of NTA on Sunday evening, added that the protest was already turning into anarchy, citing attack on the Governor of Osun State and blockage of roads across the country. “We are no longer dealing with #EndSARS but a volatile situation that can lead to anarchy if the government does not take some very firm steps to protect the lives and livelihood of innocent Nigerians”.
With such statements coming from government officials and other groups, there was no doubt that the Federal Government would deploy security operatives to drive the protesters off the streets.
In the same vein, videos appeared on social media showing hoodlums engaged to unleash mayhem on #EndSARS protesters in the streets of Abuja.
Soldiers who were deployed in Lagos on Tuesday evening to disperse the protesters ended up worsening the crisis, as they sparked wide condemnation for shooting at unarmed youths.
The aftermath of the Army action confirmed the warning by civil society organisations that the consequences could be dire if the Federal Government decided to use strong hand tactics to get the protesters off the streets.
Meanwhile, the crisis is yet to be resolved as pockets of arson and killings are still ongoing in Lagos and some other southern states.
