#EndSARS Memorial: One Year After, Has Anything Changed?

Today, October 20, 2021, marks one-year since the Nigerian youths led a massive protest against the now disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) with the #EndSARS

Early October 2020, Nigerian Youth in mostly southwest states especially Lagos took to the streets to vent their anger over maltreatment, abuse and harassment metted out on citizens by members of the SARS police formation. Nigerians marched against the force's undisguised corruption and irresponsibility, power abuse, and extra-judicial killings. They called on the authorities for a better governance in Nigeria.

Some other group took the opportunity of the mass action to condemn the bad governance that has made the Northern part of the country a killing zone and the hotbed of insecurity.

#EndSARS Memorial: One Year After, Nothing Has ChangesIn parts of the North, a pro-establishment group of sponsored thugs joined the protests and attacked civil society activists. In the South, the protests were also hijacked, giving the Police a reason to clamp down on the protesters. 

In the South, the protests later went out of hand, as #ENDSARS degenerated into organised attacks on the homes of politicians, and the business interests of innocent persons, many of which were either vandalized or razed. This revealed the underbelly of the protest -- looting of secret places and garages where politicians had hidden COVID-19 palliatives.

Lagos, the epicentre of the #EndSARS protests turned into a river of blood when the 81 Division of the Nigeria Army, Bonny Camp, Lagos arrived  to disperse the protesters.

ENDSARS protesters at Lekki tollgate There have been many versions of what transpired at the Lekki Toll Gate, and a lot of blame games and denials. Protesters claimed that the military and the police fired live bullets at protesters, and many died and some were injured.

Days later, the Buhari-led Federal Government directed that special panels of inquiry should be set up across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory, to look into the causes and effects of the protests and make appropriate recommendations especially with regard to compensation for identified and proven victims.

According to Reuben Abati, only 29 states of 36 states and FCT constituted the panels of inquiry, Essentially, only the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution in Lagos State appeared to have made any serious effort.

 The eight-man panel led by Justice Doris Okuwobi considered about 230 petitions. The Okuwobi panel was given a period of six months to conclude its work, but it was still sitting as of this week, having been granted further extension till October 19, and so far, it has awarded over N400 million as damages to victims of police brutality.

Ondo EndSARS Judicial Panel The Lagos panel, and may be a few others, including Enugu and Ekiti, would seem to have shown a measure of commitment to the assignment. Other panels were hampered one way or the other, or they quickly ended their meetings. The panel in Taraba State struggled to conduct investigations but it complained about lack of funding.

The panel in Imo state awarded N770.9 million as compensation after considering 145 petitions but there is no evidence that anybody has received any form of compensation. Ekiti State has paid part of the compensation decided upon by the panel of inquiry; but it is yet to pay the outstanding balance due to what they call “paucity of funds.” The panel in Ondo State recommend the payment of N755 million as compensation. As is the case in many other states, it is not clear if anything has been paid. So far, 28 states have managed to complete their assignments. Lagos State submitted an interim report, and has now closed shop. 

Whereas the Federal Government has taken the step of asking the states to set up judicial panels of inquiry, it is difficult, a year later to see whether any substantial progress has been made with the original five demands of the protesters namely:

• Immediate release of all arrested protesters
• Justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families;
• Setting up and independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all aspects of police misconduct (within 10 days)
• In line with the new Police Act, psychological evaluation and retraining (to be confirmed by an independent body) of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed.
• Increase police salary so that they are adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens.

The key questions to ask are: where are we, a year later? Has anything changed?