Exactly six years ago, some Nigerians protesting against extrajudicial killings by officers of the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), a unit in the Nigeria Police Force, were killed by soldiers at the Lekki Toll Gate.
The late Muhammad Buhari-led Federal Government downplayed the incident and denied deploying soldiers to the location.
The Peoples Gazette asked lawyers and activists how the #EndSARS events might have boosted or dampened the morale of Nigerians to occupy the streets again.
A political analyst, Femi Adeyeye, noted that the development could not demoralise youths to protest.
“It is not correct to say there is some kind of demoralisation,” Mr Adeyeye told The Gazette citing the outcome of the 2023 polls and the turnout of #EndBadGovernance protests which lasted 10 days in 2024.
He said the result of the 2023 presidential elections which the ruling All Progressives Congress won narrowly, was a protest from Nigerians withdrawing support from the party in power during the poll.
“There was a mass action after #EndSARS which was actually the 2023 elections. There was a kind of resurgence of activism and people brought that activism into politics,” Mr Adeyeye said.
“At the end of the day, the APC emerged the winner but they did not emerge on a popular note,” he said.
In 2023, President Bola Tinubu lost Lagos State, his political base and APC stronghold and to the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi. Mr Tinubu scored 572,602 votes, losing to Mr Obi who polled 582,454 votes.
Mr Adeyeye said young people had yet to mobilise themselves in a coordinated manner to occupy the streets under the right ideology.
“Young people are yet to organise themselves in a very coordinated manner under the correct ideal. There is an ideology that should guide us,” he said.
However, activist Omolola Pedro differed in her opinion, saying the violence and soldiers deployed to quash the protests discouraged many Nigerians from demonstrations.
“I don’t think there would be a time where they would get to the breaking point and occupy the streets again,” Miss Pedro said. “The massacre demotivated a lot of people including some activists, myself inclusive.”
“That no one was punished and held accountable for the massacre was another point to consider as Nigerians were not ready to lay down their lives in a country where justice isn’t guaranteed. Everyone is scared for their lives. After the massacre, the people lost their lives, there was no justice. Nobody was held accountable.”
A lawyer and human rights activist, Damilare Ademola, said Nigerian youths have not lost their appetite to protest referencing the #EndBadGovernance nationwide demonstrations in August 2024.
“Nigerian youths are not demotivated,” Mr Adenola stressed.
In her contribution, an activist, Rasheedat Adeshina, said Nigerian youths have not lost their willpower to protest, saying they were near breaking point.
Ms Adeshina recalled how the extrajudicial killing of a youth in Delta State sparked an uproar that triggered the #EndSARS nationwide protests which lasted for weeks.
“You cannot fix a date when people will protest,” she said. “People will protest when they have been pushed to the wall and they have nowhere to go.”
“It is the last straw that broke the camel’s back,” Ms Adeshina said. “It is the last straw that we don’t know now. It will still come. We are very close to it again.”
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