The ENDSARS protest against police brutality which started peacefully suddenly turned violent with many property and lives lost. SAMSON BENJAMIN and ABDULRAHMAN ZAKARIYAU in report examine the implications of violence against the backdrop of the protesters’ demands.
The protests
Nationwide protests against police brutality began on October 8, after a video emerged on social media showing police officers, allegedly the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), shooting and killing a young man in Delta state. Although the police denied the reports, protests erupted across the country calling for the disbandment of the unit with hash tag #ENDSARS becoming popular around the world.
Though the protesters appear ‘leaderless,’ the demonstrations were mostly driven by young people who said they had been unfairly profiled by SARS.
The #endSARS hashtag dates back to at least 2017, when it was used to share experiences of assault and violence. SARS was formed in 1984 to combat an increase in armed robbery and crime but has been widely accused of unlawful arrests and other abuses.
Amnesty International reported at least 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment and extra-judicial execution between January 2017 and May 2020. Despite promises of reforms, Amnesty insisted that SARS officers still acted with impunity.
The peaceful protest yielded results with the disbandment of the SARS and setting up a Special Weapons And Tactics (SAWT) Team and judicial panels of enquiry by state governments, among other measures.
Violence
However, what started as a peaceful movement two weeks ago turned bloody on Tuesday as 23 people were killed in Abuja, Oyo, Edo, Lagos and Plateau states.
Blueprint gathered that four people were killed at Dutsen-Alhaji, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); three in Ibadan, Oyo state; two in Benin City, Edo state; 11 at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos state, and three in Plateau state.
Also, as of Monday, nearly 20 persons had been killed at various locations across the country. Similarly, hoodlums on Wednesday unleashed hail of fires in some parts of the country as widespread violence from the #ENDSARS protests entered day two.
A worrying video of a mob lynching the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Agbara, in Lagos, surfaced on social media just as over four persons were allegedly killed by policemen. Blueprint further gathered that the hoodlums reportedly murdered three cops in at Makinde Police Station in Oshodi.
Residents said the station was razed before the hoodlums carted away vehicles and motorcycles without registration numbers.
Also, images of burnt buildings, including headquarters of The Nation Newspapers in Mushin, Television Continental (TVC) at Isheri, other media houses, emergency and safety offices/equipment, the Lekki and Ikoyi toll plazas, shopping malls, banks and hotels littered the social media.
Disturbing footages on social media across the state showed anarchy reigning supreme as rampaging armed thugs besieged highbrow estates in Lekki and Victoria Garden City (VGC) in search of politically exposed persons. They were, however, prevented by guards at the entrance of such places.
The Nation newspapers head office was invaded by hoodlums late afternoon that set it ablaze not minding that there were people inside the premises. Fortunately, those trapped were evacuated before the fire escalated although valuable items including cars were destroyed.
At TVC, the mob who could not gain access into the building, set vehicles ablaze and also torched a part of the building forcing a blackout on the station during the breakfast show. In Surulere, the family house of Governor Sanwo-Olu was set ablaze by an irate crowd, while the palace of the Oba of Lagos, Iga Idugaran, on the Island was vandalised by youth who carted away valuables, including the staff of office.
Several Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) buses and stations at Berger and Oyingbo were torched while the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA’s) head office in Marina was also burnt.
Other public places attacked included Lagos City Mall, Igbosere Magistrates’ Court and Ibeju-lekki local government secretariat, Bella’s place owned by Mike Adenuga, Circle Mall Jakande in Lekki, Shoprite Mall Sangetodo, several shops and plazas across the state as well as some commercial banks.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) offices, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC’s) complex at Ojodu Berger and Fire trucks were not left out of the carnage.
According to the director-general, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, one of the agency’s paramedics intern, Marian Omobukola, was hit by stray bullet. Also attacked was the state Fire Service, forcing the firemen to retreat despite the multiple fires recorded across the state.
At Ojodu Berger, the hoodlums attacked offices of the FRSC and VIS and set the vehicles of the sector commanders on fire. The police were not left out of the fray as several police divisions and outposts were attacked in reprisals by angry youth.
Sequel to the gunning down of some youth by policemen from different divisions, the mob reinforced and attacked several stations.
At the Adekunle Police Station, the mob set it ablaze after two residents were reportedly shot dead by the police who were trying to enforce the curfew. Also, in Isheri Police Division, the residents stormed the station ablaze while a gun duel was recorded in Mushin area of the state.
At the Lekki-Epe expressway in Ajah, the mob overpowered policemen and seized their guns while in Ebute Metta and Lagos Island Police Post, some youths were said to have been killed by the police.
In Oshodi, the rampaging youth stormed the Makinde Police Division and burnt parts of it as reprisal for the two persons that were killed by the police who were enforcing curfew.
Confirming the attacks, police spokesman, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said: “The hoodlums, who have been causing mayhem in Lagos state, under the guise of the ongoing #ENDSARS protests have killed two policemen at Orile Police Station, wounded many at various stations and set ablaze 10 police formations across the state.”
In Ogun state, the hitherto peaceful protest embarked upon by youths took a dangerous violent dimension after it was hijacked by hoodlums. Confirming the incident, Ogun Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the mob went to Atan-Ota and set the Police station there ablaze and subsequently murdered the D.C.O, DSP Augustine Ogbeche in cold blood.
Stating that a civilian also died in the process, he said the mob carted away arms and inflicted serious injury on the DPO, SP Sikiru Olugbenga whose whereabouts remain unknown. Also, in Abeokuta, he said some groups of boys attacked Obada-Oko divisional headquarters and vandalised it.
Prison breaks
Another tale of violence witnessed in the cause of the protest was prison breaks.
On Monday, suspected hoodlums broke into the Benin Prison popularly called White House and freed several inmates. The armed squad of prison officials engaged the suspected hoodlums in a gunfight which resulted in some persons sustaining injuries.
According to the director of press and public relations at the Federal Ministry of Interior, Mr. Mohammed Manga, at least 1,993 inmates were at large following the attack on two Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) Custodial Centres in Benin City and Oko Edo state. He gave the figure in a statement on Tuesday.
In Ondo, hoodlums on Thursday broke into the National Correctional Service Centre in Okitipupa, the headquarters of Okitipupa local government area of Ondo state, and forcefully released the inmates. It was gathered that no fewer than 58 inmates were released during the attack while a vehicle was burnt.
The Public Relations Officer of the Ondo state Command of NCS, Ogundare Babatunde, confirmed the incident.
CSO’s take
However, the executive secretary of Integrity Organisation, a civil society organisation (CSO), Ibukun Awosika, in a chat with Blueprint Weekend regretted that hoodlums hijacked the #ENDSARS protests nationwide, which had culminated in the loss of lives and destruction of property.
She pleaded with the youth with genuine grievances to take advantage of dialogue and other peaceful means to engage the federal and state governments.
Awosika condemned the violent attacks that led to destruction of public assets and attacks on police officers, lawful protesters and fellow Nigerians, pleaded with the protesting youths with genuine grievances to give room for dialogue.
“I watched videos of arson, carnage and gory scenes of violence with deep sadness. This ugly development depicts a high level of dehumanisation. In every sense, this is unacceptable, and it must stop forthwith in the interest of peace and unity.
“The protesting youths with genuine grievance should, as a matter of urgency, exploit this window, at least, as the first step to build a new policing order and make police authorities accountable across the federation,” she said.
FG’s blame
However, a rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, blamed the violence on what he called the use of primitive and unlawful means by the federal and some state governments to address protesters against the brutality of operatives of the SARS.
Barrister Effiong told Vanguard that rather than addressing issues of poor governance raised by the agitators, the federal government, he said, has chosen to deploy “extrajudicial means to “discredit and scuttle the genuine agitations of aggrieved protesters.”
He said, “Recent attacks on police stations in Edo and Lagos states have been cited by governors of these states as a basis for imposing questionable curfews. One can reasonably infer that these attacks are ostensibly sponsored by persons who are sympathetic to the government, as part of an orchestrated plot to unleash the military on protesters to truncate the nationwide movement for police reform and good governance.
“From the start of the nation-wide protests, about two dozen peaceful protesters have been murdered by security officers and murderous thugs actively aided and abetted by law enforcement agencies and state actors in different parts of the country.
“The social media is dominated by videos and photos showing armed thugs and riotous mobs unleashing mayhem, burning and destroying properties belonging to protesters and other Nigerians. These criminal actions are not happening in isolation. Generally, protesters have remained peaceful and law-abiding despite the provocations. Protesters have been working to restore law and sanity as part of their civic responsibility.
“We have seen protesters offering food and water to police officers. We have seen protesters clearing the streets of dirt. These same protesters have volunteered to control the flow of traffic in Lagos and other parts of the country.
“It is unacceptable that the police have not arrested the thugs and their sponsors who are committing murder, arson and other criminal activities. Rather, we have seen pictorial evidence of thugs being conveyed in police vehicles. This can only mean that the government and the thugs are in sync.
“It is, therefore, offensive, hypocritical and deceitful for a government that has been complicit in the attacks on peaceful protesters, to rely on acts of violence perpetrated by thugs and other criminal elements who are working to disrupt the protests for the benefit of the same government, as a justification for more state-sanctioned violence.”
Beyond SARS, SWAT
Meanwhile, the former deputy President of the Senate Ike Ekweremadu while reacting to the disbandment SARS and proposed setting up of the Special Weapons and Tactical Team (SWAT), Ekweremadu said the federal government was still addressing the symptoms rather than the real illness.
In a statement, Ekweremadu said: “The ongoing street protests over the excesses of elements in the Nigeria Police did not come to me as a surprise. As a matter of fact, I had always known, and warned severally that a day would come when Nigerians would no longer tolerate the worsening insecurity in the land and the excesses of those charged with protecting lives and property.
“The problem with our policing and the attendant insecurity and excesses are engraved, majorly located in Section 214 (1) of the 1999 constitution, which provides that ‘There shall be a police force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provisions of this section, no other police force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof’.
“It is also worsened by Section 215 (2), which goes further to declare that ‘The Nigeria Police Force shall be under the command of the Inspector-General of Police and contingents of the Nigeria Police Force stationed in a state shall, subject to the authority of the Inspector-General of Police, be under the command of the Commissioner of Police of that state.”
He added: “This informed my Bill for the Creation of State Police with adequate provisions in the mode of financing, control, and appointments of the high commands of such state police services to insulate them from any forms of abuse and give citizens roles in the various State Police Service Commissions. Unfortunately, this has not received the requisite political support. I call on the President and political stakeholders, once more, to seize the opportunity of the widespread demands for police reforms by Nigerians to do the right thing, addressing the structural challenges.
“Nigeria is the only federal state with a unitary police. It has never worked anywhere. It is not working here and it will never work.
“Therefore, whether we call it SARS or SWAT, we will only be addressing the symptoms instead of the diseases until we decentralize policing to allow citizens and the states take charge of the security of lives and properties of its people. This is the more reassuring way of addressing the mounting challenges of corruption, excesses, indiscipline, abuse, inadequate and poorly-motivated manpower as well as lack of equipment and security infrastructure currently bedevilling policing in Nigeria.”
Buhari’s appeals, caution, promises
President Muhammadu Buhari in a nationwide broadcast on Thursday warned protesters not to “undermine national security.” He appealed to those taking part in widespread demonstrations to “resist the temptation of being used by some subversive elements to cause chaos; to do otherwise will amount to undermining national security and the law and order situation. Under no circumstances will this be tolerated.”
The president reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to preserving the unity of this country, and assured that government” will continue to improve good governance and our democratic process, including through sustained engagement.
“We shall continue to ensure that liberty and freedom, as well as the fundamental rights of all citizens are protected. But remember that government also has the obligation to protect lives and properties, as well as the right of citizens to go about their daily businesses freely and protected from acts of violence.”
