EndSARS: Moving from protests to power

SIR:  Following peaceful, #EndSARS protests for 12 days across the country, there were loud calls from various quarters for President Muhammadu Buhari to address the nation in hopes of reaffirming citizens’ rights to peaceful assembly and assuring protesters of governments commitment towards meeting their demands.

Instead, the president stated that “In the circumstances, I would like to appeal to protesters to note and take advantage of the various well-thought-out initiatives of this administration designed to make their lives better and more meaningful, and resist the temptation of being used by some subversive elements to cause chaos with the aim of truncating our nascent democracy. For you to do otherwise will amount to undermining national security and the law and order situation. Under no circumstances will this be tolerated.”

Street protests were halted following the president’s address; however, the #EndSARS movement continues to adapt their mode of engagement to press home their demands.

These adaptations are beginning to manifest in states such as Lagos where citizens have resorted to messaging using creative signs that ensure the message towards ending police brutality remains in the minds of the citizens and security agencies as they commute to work in the city’s notorious traffic jams. Similar signs have also been spotted in Enugu, in the East. Protesters in Jos, Plateau State embarked on door-to-door civic education campaigns with handbills on how citizens can engage and hold the government accountable despite the government’s claim that all the demands of the protesters have been met.

In order to move from protests to power, it is imperative to learn lessons from previous (and current protests). The calming of a protest should not be treated as an end-point but rather a new beginning.

Nigeria has been an unbroken democracy for the past 21 years but as the #EndSARS movement has shown, democracy does not always provide development for its citizens. The protest which were met with state violence, currently show every sign of morphing into something more – something that reaches for the reform of the political system itself, that improves its capacity for producing leaders fit for the 21st century and remake the country for human flourishing.

In Hong Kong for instance, protests have been ongoing since June 2019. The lessons primarily from the Hong Kong Protests are an adaptation of Bruce Lee’s famous quote to be “formless, shapeless, like water”.

A deeper question revolves around what happens when protests die down, or in other words – what next for #EndSARS? Richard Young makes the point that, “It is difficult not to be moved by what young activists in Hong Kong and elsewhere have achieved in recent months. However, it is important to keep in mind that it is when the crowds eventually go home that a lot of the really decisive politics and power-broking happens. The post-protest moment may not be as dramatic in media terms as the heat of a large-scale demonstration, but it is of vital importance in influencing whether protests are ultimately meaningful – and whether their impact is positive or less benign for democracy”.

The #EndSARS movement will need to re-think its strategies and fine tune its methods such as engaging with the judicial panels of inquiry, providing legal support to protesters who have been arrested, harassed and targeted, increase civic education, and joining political parties towards ensuring that this period marks a preparation for the beginning of a new phase of political engagement.

• Ibrahim Faruk, fibrahim@yiaga.org