The ongoing End SARS protests are
upshot of engagements on social media platform, Twitter.
But there are fears that
Nigerians authorities have deployed some sort of technology to suppress the End
SARS hashtag.
In 48 hours, #EndSARS tweets hit
30 million, unprecedented in Nigeria.
The tag trended worldwide,
attracting several popular figures who joined the campaign in solidarity.
The genesis of the renewed
struggle against the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was the
incident in Delta State.
On October 3, an unharmed citizen
identified as Joshua Ambrose, was seriously wounded and left at the scene by a
SARS team.
The incident occurred within the
precinct of Wetland Hotel in Ughelli.
Operatives fled with his vehicle
(a white Lexus SUV but were chased and filmed by good Samaritans.
The Police tracked and arrested
Nicholas Makolomi for recording the rogue officers.
As the footage went viral,
citizens posted previously published and new videos of SARS excesses.
Youths, mostly in the Southern
parts of Nigeria where the squad flexes its muscles, declared they’ve had
enough.
The #EndSARS campaign resurged
and by October 5, they were ready to go all out.
But music artiste, Azeez Fashola
aka Naira Marley, backed out from the October 6 protest he announced to the
chagrin of prospective demonstrators.
The next day, Douglas Jack Agu
better known as Runtown, announced a new date for protests.
He was joined by Folarin Falana
aka Falz, a lawyer-cum-singer, and on October 8, the musicians hit the streets
of Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city.
Debo Adedayo (Mc Macaroni) and
Rinu Oduala (Savvyrinu) brought in their popularity to garner more crowd.
Macaroni and Oduala co-led
protesters to the House of Assembly and Lagos State Governor’s Office where
they passed two nights.
The efforts of the quartet
amplified the protests which had been ongoing in different states.
But since Sunday, #EndSARS has
been off Twitter trend list despite tens of thousands tweets.
Campaigners’ switch to #EndSarsNow
and #SARSMustEnd has made no difference.
Now, they insist that the
government has done some hacking.
Dipo Awojide, who led the London
protests, has vowed to call the attention of the international community.
“We will march to the UK
parliament and the Prime Ministers house if the Nigerian government shuts down
internet in the country.
“The whole world will hear
exactly what they are trying to hide. #SARSMUSTEND #EndSARS”, he tweeted.
Many other Nigerians share the
view and are deriding the government for “attempting to silence” voices of
young men and women.
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