For those who are unaware, Nigeria as a nation has been ravaged by the operation of the special anti robbery squad (SARS). They beat, kill, kidnap, rape, extort and disrupt justice at any occasion that they can. SARS has been operating for years and committing many heinous crimes. Each year the Nigerian government lies to us saying that they’ve reformed them but they just get worse and worse.
SARS profiles innocent citizens based on things such as tattoos, dreads, what phone model they have, age, clothing, etc. Basically anything they deem criminal and is enough to use to blame or frame people for crimes. The only way to get out of such a situation is to pay them with a lot of money or to pay with your life. Only a few have gotten out of it unscathed because of their connections to people in power or sincerely just the grace of God.
Over the last week, Nigerians all across Nigeria have been peacefully protesting. There has been zero violence of any sort. At first the protests and the concerns of the protestors were not being televised by any nigerian news stations. They were all silent and not saying a word about anything. The only way information was moving around was through social media and social media activists. Someone’s stations even began to cook up lies, calling the protestors criminals and violent. The peaceful protestors have been met with all sorts of violence; tear gas, bullets, water being sprayed on them and being chased with fear of death or kidnapping. Arrested protestors have been beaten badly and some even shot dead. This is what these news stations are trying to justify.
Thankfully because of the work of social media activists, some of these peaceful protestors have been released after arrest. CNN and other global news stations have been reached and Nigerians globally are peacefully protesting at any Nigerian state building in their respective countries. We are all so thankful for this. The protests in Nigeria are still going on, they are happening as we speak and we are so proud of everyone participating and risking their lives, knowing that they will be met with some sort of violence while out there.
Shame on the nigerian news stations that say one thing on twitter and say nothing on television. Shame on the state of lagos that tried to lie and frame the protestors as violent and as engaging in crossfire with the police when that is NOT the truth. Shame on the Nigerian governors who have been trying to ban protesting or telling peaceful protestors that their demands cannot be met.
We are all Nigerians and all we want is peace and to live without fear of death. Nigeria itself is a broken, corrupt and horrible country with a standard of life that mirrors it. But if there’s one thing these protests have shown is that we all love each other because of the experiences we share in this country and we all want to se each other doing well. That is what the Nigerian government is standing against and they have made that clear. We as the people will not take it.
Please continue to trend the hashtags #SARSMUSTENDNOW #SARSMUSTGO #BUHARIHASBEENABADBOY on twitter, instagram, reddit. Any and Everywhere. We need all the support we can get. In further articles, we will be posting how to donate money to protest causes, how to help with getting legal assistance for protestors or even medical assistance. We will also be linking and tagging existing go fund me’s, organizations and petitions helping out with the issue at hand. We at the 49th support and want the best for all of us as Nigerian Youths.