#EndSARS: We’re joining the #EndSARS movement. You should too.
In late 2018, we published an article, Fifteen Things You Must Budget For If You Live In Nigeria. One of the compulsory things to budget for was Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (F-SARS): ‘Settling police so they can release your friend they carried for no reason: They said because he was using an iPhone he must be a yahoo boy.’
When Alex* and his friends were stopped a few months later, it was for similar reasons: they had iPhones, had a nice car and were dressed a little too flashy for young men. This is one of many stories, documented and undocumented. It didn’t start in 2018, or 2017 — for a long time, we young Nigerians have had to negotiate our freedom, we’ve been told that our lives are worthless and simply existing meant that we were likely to die. Between 2018 and now, there have been several stories, several innocent lives lost for nothing and yet, our government remains mute.
On October 3rd, SARS shot and killed a young man in Ughelli, Delta State. This sparked a fresh wave of tweets, protests and stories. The goal is the same across board: We want the government, namely Buhari, Yemi and his cohorts to do something and not just sit on their high horses; we want them to #EndSARS.
As a publication at the center of telling stories that matter, stories of young Nigerians and how they navigate life, we are standing in allegiance with this battle and making it our priority.
In the past few days, we have shared stories about the brutality young men and women have faced at the hand of SARS, we have published stories on the history of SARS, how the police is harassing protesters and reported news on the government’s inactions. Now we’re going to do more. For the rest of the day, we’ll be pausing publication of our usual daily stories. This means, outside of our Abroad Life flagship, there won’t be any other regular Zikoko articles or quizzes. We’ll be sharing only stories related to SARS — how you can help, where you can go to protest, what you need during the protest and other useful information. Through our social media platforms, we’ll also be covering the protest live. So follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more updates.
If there’s any information you think is important for us to cover ASAP, please let us know.
