The Real FIVE Pioneers Of #ENDSARS

In 2020 a small group of about 5 young people went to a crossroads in Lagos, Nigeria to protest against police brutality. Their protest was called #EndSARS, and they were protesting police brutality. SARS (The Special Anti-Robbery Squad) was a notorious segment of the Nigeria police force, known for extortion and extra-judicial killings of anybody they termed armed robbers.

For 4 days that tiny group protested, with barely anybody noticing.

On the last day, as they were about to leave, someone tweeted about their protest. Then someone else retweeted, and someone else. And soon, there thousands of retweets, with social media hailing them as heroes.

A few people who saw the protest on twitter joined them. It was still a small crowd, but it was growing. The news started spreading on social media, and the crowd grew. Within a couple of days, there were thousands of people protesting with the #EndSARS hashtag. The government was silent, believing it would blow away shortly.

But the protests grew and grew. Young people in other cities started joining. Nigerian social media was aflame - this was the only topic. Till the protests became violent. The protesters started attacking police stations. The policemen started shooting protesters.

The protesters marched to notorious SARS prisons and forced them open. Prisoners escaped. Malls were burnt down. Policemen threw off their uniforms and Government officials fled.

As the violence flared, social media now started calling for calm. But it was late - a lot of hoodlums had already infiltrated the protests, and they were bent on getting revenge for everything they blamed the Government for.

The Government tried to stop the protests, but there was nobody to talk to. There was no head of protest, no figurehead, nobody with any real authority. They called it a “headless mob”.

Social media started calling for calm, and asking the president to speak. After many days of silence, he finally spoke, urging for calm, disbanding SARS and promising to address the concerns of the protesters.

Things calmed down. But there was still a huge crowd gathered at the Lekki Tollgate - a major, 6 lane highway that passes through the heart of Lagos. Concerts were playing at the location, people were serving food and drinks.

Then ominously, on the 20th of October of 2020 some people drove there in unmarked cars and removed all the Cameras installed at the tollgate.

That night, as the DJs played, all the floodlights at the tollgate switched off. Social media users warned about military vehicles driving along the highway towards the location.

Short clips from mobile phones capture what happened next. It’s dark, people are running, gunshots everywhere. People are gathered around bleeding people, screaming. More running, lights flashing.

There are no cameras, so there is no clear reconstruction.

But the next morning, the army is in control of the tollgate, and the protesters are gone. Social media is filled with messages that many people were killed and the army took away their bodies and cleared the scene. The army and government said nothing like that happened.

An uneasy calm starts.
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