Truth in question
The police have denied reports that 15 young Nigerians who participated in the EndSARS protests in 2020 are still being detained without…
The police have denied reports that 15 young Nigerians who participated in the EndSARS protests in 2020 are still being detained without trial. A human rights activist and former senator from Kaduna, Shehu Sani, during the 2024 Democracy Day Dinner in Abuja on 12 June, claimed that some EndSARS protesters are still being held unlawfully. Mr Sani asked President Bola Tinubu to release them. But in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, the police spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said Mr Sani’s claim was misleading and urged the public to disregard it.
As of October 2024, three years after the protests, Afrobarometer said that at least 15 protesters remained in detention. This was corroborated by Amnesty International, and the police said nothing. We suspect that the only reason the police have issued a statement now is because Mr Sani made his appeal directly to the President on live TV, but we note that the police’s response did not include any numbers regarding who was arrested, when and where, and when such people were released. This is because the police do not have those records, and part of the problem lies therein. Protesters were arrested all over the country in the same arbitrary fashion that the Nigerian security services have gotten used to. These protesters are likely to remain locked up until all Nigerians acknowledge that people were indeed killed not only in Lekki but across the country. A significant number of Nigerians refuse to accept that fatalities occurred on 20 October 2020, and this refusal is why protesters remain in detention. Without a united front on this issue, the political resolve to solve it will not exist. Without political resolve, those who endure the consequences will continue to suffer. The victims’ freedom is not merely a legal matter; it hinges on public perception. Do Nigerians truly believe that people died in Lekki?