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The day after the Lekki toll gate massacre on October 20 last year, I was in bed listening to a song by the American rapper Ab-Soul. The air was full of pain, and whenever I stopped shaking long enough to breathe, the pungent smell of death would invade my nostrils. From time to time, I toss and turn, desperately trying to get rid of the bloody incident I almost witnessed the night before.
Instead, I turned my attention to Soulo (as Ab-Soul is affectionately called) rude rap and sharp social criticism, which connect individuals to politics. “What is your life?/Enlighten me/Do you live on your knees/Or do you kneel to die?” He posed on “Ab-Soul’s Outro”. Later that day, when I wiped off my tear-stained face, I questioned the significance of the #EndSARS protest and whether the reward was worth the risk.
At this time last year, Nigerian youth made history. Driven by pain, and united with unfettered determination, young Nigerians took to the streets to bravely challenge the now “disbanded” Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police force’s extrajudicial execution of young people. The atmosphere on the protest site—whether physical or virtual—is different from anything I have ever seen. In protest venues across the country, when we work together to protest poor governance, there is a reassuring friendship among young people. The movement is largely fragmented, especially in the absence of ethnic and religious tensions that usually plague the framework of social and political issues in Nigeria. We are one.
But on a dark Tuesday night at the Lekki toll booth in Lagos State, everything came to an abrupt end. On October 20, 2020, after the country’s curfew was announced, soldiers opened fire on peaceful protesters who were sitting there waving the Nigerian flag and singing the national anthem. Some people lost their lives that night.
The massacre-and the chaos that followed-left a bitter taste in our mouths, considering the exciting momentum of the protests ended abruptly after it. Young people who began to imagine a new future were rudely shaken back to reality by gunshots and the cries of injured colleagues. The government relentlessly tried to erase the terrible events of that night from our memory, to no avail. Finally, it is obvious that justice may not be a tangible concept in this country.
As a result, the consequences of the protest have a polarizing effect on Nigerians, crossing the line between optimism and pessimism. For some people, the battle is far from over, but they are afraid of another bloodshed. For others, this view reiterated their initial belief in the apparent relationship between the public and activism. But what is revolution? Is it a person or a thing?
American historian Crane Brinton compared revolution to fever in his book “Anatomy of the Revolution.” Like a fever, the revolution may be a good thing for the surviving parties. As Blington said: “Fever burns evil bacteria, just as revolution destroys evil people and harmful and useless institutions.” In this sense, revolution usually brings positive results to survivors-but Survival is not easy.
Revolutions do not happen overnight-they are usually long and tortuous tunnels to the other side of freedom, and there are usually many setbacks along the way. The ultimate journey to success is a resilience rooted in a desperate desire for survival. Therefore, those who try to launch a rebellion must understand that it will bring a certain sacrifice: time, energy, resources, life.
In December 2010, Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest against the seizure of his fruit and vegetable cart by the police. The seizure itself symbolizes that he continues to suffer systematic deprivation and oppression in the hands of his own government. Buaziz’s sacrifice triggered the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, and finally the Arab Spring. A wave of protests, uprisings, and turmoil in North Africa and the Middle East eventually overthrew the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen and shocked others. nation.
However, this is not without cost: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been ravaged by civil war since the fall of Libya. Similarly, after President Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to step down, Yemen was plunged into a bloody civil war. In Syria, despite the national uprising against its rule, President Bashar al-Assad continues to hold power at the cost of hundreds of thousands of Syrians killed and millions of people displaced.
After the distressing Lekki toll gate shooting, #EndSARS protesters withdrew to their homes, worried about their lives and what law enforcement would do next. We slowly but surely realized that revolution is not for the faint-hearted.
In his two-part article “Analysis of the EndSARS Protest as an Incomplete Revolution”, Nigerian philosophy professor Douglas Anene compared a successful revolution with the delivery of a new baby. He He believes that “the inconvenience caused by potential pregnancy, the mother and the pain of childbirth during childbirth are similar to the pain and torture that often accompanies the revolution.”
In this case, it is easy to attribute the deaths in the Lekki massacre-and throughout the protests-to the expected consequences of such an uprising. But many people cannot understand this point of view. On the one hand, Nigeria’s socio-political climate has deteriorated sharply since then. Across the country, violence and insecurity are increasing, hunger crises across the country, and freedom of the press continues to be suppressed. It’s as if we took one step forward and three steps back.
In her book “On the Revolution”, the German-American political scientist Hannah Arendt described the revolution as a form of recovery in which the rebels sought to restore what was lost by the government’s brief slip into authoritarianism. Civil liberties and privileges.
It would be a myth to associate this with Nigeria; my country had been burning for decades before I was born. Long before I witnessed a plane crash that killed about 100 children my age, long before the armed militia launched its first attack on a city in northern Nigeria. Therefore, in this sense, recovery is almost impossible, because I only know Nigeria’s current dystopian state. Our parents also know this. Like us, change bubbled in their hearts, but their radicalism succumbed to a lack of true faith in its end result, leaving them suffering from the disease of empty hope.
In essence, ending the SARS protests is inevitable. According to Blington’s theory, “fever” rises due to people’s complaints. The symptom of a fever is a breakdown in the strength of the body. Fever rages; then it is clear that the people cannot tolerate it, and this anger is replaced by a better power body and a happier person. In Nigeria, years of unbridled violence and complete disregard of citizens’ lives have undoubtedly brewed the dissatisfaction that erupted last year into the national justice anger. Despite this, we have not yet become “happier people.”
Nevertheless, this movement has taught us some positive lessons. The first is that we are stronger together than when we are apart. Across the country, young Nigerians from all six geopolitical regions have gathered together with the common goal of ending police intimidation, oppression and brutality. Our united front ensures that the protests can continue. It also shows us that there is a responsible and transparent civil society that can respond to the needs of its citizens.
The main cause of political corruption deeply rooted in Nigeria’s land is the government’s continued lack of respect for human rights and not caring about the people it is chosen to serve. Therefore, seeing platforms like the Feminist Alliance voluntarily raise and pay for social services such as food, shelter, medical care, personal safety, and legal aid during the protests has injected new hope into the country’s future.
Looking to the future, the only way out is a thorough reform in Nigeria. We understand that corruption not only begins and ends with the illegal actions of rogue units, but is spread by all factions in Nigerian society that support and reward the abuse of power and the disproportionate use of force. But, as we know, the political turmoil we seek will not be handed over to us on silver platter.
Anene further argued in his article: “Only a deep understanding of the fact that revolution involves life and death can produce the psychological inclination needed to successfully lead the revolution. In a revolution, halfway measures are futile and counterproductive.”
Therefore, the multi-million dollar question remains: Who is going to overthrow these control systems? In the face of fierce and deadly resistance, who is going to stand firm? Who dares to resist?
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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