A (Re)interpretation of the #Endsars Movement in Nigeria: Evidence from the Niger Delta Region

Abstract

Scholarship that has studied the #EndSARS movement in Nigeria remains scanty. In contributing to debates surrounding the #EndSARS movement, we focus on the Niger Delta region and the effect of the movement on the people. Online interview of 20 participants across the region, reports from Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch and Facebook posts provided data for the qualitative study. Castells’ ‘network society’ enabled us to explain how youths formed a ‘network of protesters’ to resist a repressive police system. The #EndSARS protest was another opportunity for the Niger Delta youths to express their dissonance with an exclusionary political arrangement.

‘It will never be well with SARS’: A discourse analytic study of the #EndSARS protests on social media

“…This discursive positioning also represents the protesters as selfless individuals who aim to emancipate Nigerians from bad government. It illustrates an African sense of community where ‘an individual is incomplete unless they maintain an active connection with the society they are a part of’ (Okpalaeke and Aboh, 2022: 4). By invoking the ‘judgment of God’, asking Nigerians to pray (26), referencing the Bible (27) and using the heaven as a reward (28), the protesters use religious references to create a moral and spiritual imperative for their demands.…”

“…Nigeria is a democratic country and protest is a common way for Nigerians to express their grievances towards government policies and actions. The country has experienced several protests such as the 1929 Aba Women's riot (which kicked against intolerable taxes), the 1989 student-led anti-government protests (against the increase in price of students' meal tickets), the June 12, 1993 protest against the annulment of the presidential election and the January 2012 protest against the removal of the fuel subsidy (Adebowale, 2020;Okpalaeke and Aboh, 2022). The #EndSARS protest emerged as a continuation of this tradition, with Nigerians rising to address the deep-seated issues of police harassment and power abuse.…”

“…This killing and the use of hashtags on social media, such as #EndSARS, #EndSARSNow, #EndPoliceBrutality and #LekkiMassacre amplified the protests and attracted the attention of the international community. The protests, which started as a movement against police brutality, metamorphosed into a call for political revolution and social transformation, which led to the use of the hashtags #Fixpolitics and #EndBadGovernance (Okpalaeke and Aboh, 2022). The slogan used by the protesters was the Yoruba expression Sọrọ Soke, which means 'Speak Up', highlighting the importance of taking action and speaking out against injustice (Okesola and Oyebode, 2023).…”

“…The study also showed that economic conditions such as poverty, inequality and unemployment, and social factors, including online and offline mobilisation by youths and celebrities, heightened the protests. Examining the impact of the protest on people in the Niger Delta region, Okpalaeke and Aboh (2022), drawing on Castells’ concept of network society, analysed 20 Niger Deltans’ experience of the protest based on data drawn from Twitter and Facebook. The study showed that the protests’ impact is evident in the attacks on government properties, burning of police stations, killing of protesters and prison escapes.…”

“…Social media has provided a platform for digital activism, as evidenced by the protests in Nigeria in October 2020, which demanded the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) (Uwalaka, 2022). Research on the #EndSARS protest aimed at highlighting the impact of the protest on people in the Niger Delta region (Okpalaeke and Aboh, 2022), the emotions exhibited before, during and after the protest (Eniayejuni, 2023), the political, economic and social factors that contributed to the protest (Aniche and Iwuoha, 2022), the legal issues surrounding the protest (Aidonojie et al, 2022; Richards and Eboibi, 2022) and the role of women during the protest (Nwakanma, 2022). These studies illustrate how social media helped mobilise and manage the protest and how protesters formed solidarity.…”