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A few and final thoughts on #EndSARS 
There's genuine anger by many Nigerians about police brutality and general insecurity. There's a feeling of helplessness at how aloof and unresponsive the government appears to be overall on the hardship faced by many Nigerians. 1/n
There's genuine anger by many Nigerians about police brutality and general insecurity. There's a feeling of helplessness at how aloof and unresponsive the government appears to be overall on the hardship faced by many Nigerians. 1/n
As in many parts of the world, it takes one issue to spark mass protests that express anger around deeper systemic issues: insecurity, corruption, unemployment, pol representation etc. The goals of #EndSARs were initially focused around the police, but then began to expand 2/n
were initially focused around the police, but then began to expand 2/n
The risk always was that prolonged protests with expansive/broad objectives would draw participants who would superimpose other agendas. Managing the movement, the obj & messaging then becomes difficult. In a large, diverse country like Nigeria, that creates problems #EndSARS 3/n
3/n
One critical mistake, IMO, was allowing the genuine anger around #EndSARS to evolve into #BuhariMustGo. That was dangerous for a 1,000 reasons. Importantly, a rare opportunity to unite all Nigerians around insecurity, pervasive human rights abuses & govt incompetence was lost 4/n
to evolve into #BuhariMustGo. That was dangerous for a 1,000 reasons. Importantly, a rare opportunity to unite all Nigerians around insecurity, pervasive human rights abuses & govt incompetence was lost 4/n
The horrible incident in Lekki, is child's play compared to the routine and decades-long human rights abuses in the Niger-Delta, parts of Borno and the North East. There are tons of reports on excesses of security forces in these regions, with whole communities wiped out 5/n
On the Lekki incident, again we fall into the trap of giving an opportunity to delegitimize our causes when we use 'genocide' and 'massacre' recklessly. Something horrible happened there definitely and we should press for an independent enquiry to unravel the truth. 6/n
I want to stress the delegitimizing role of sharing fake news to 'influencers' during #EndSARS . In the short term, the vector of false info gets thousands of RTs & even celebrity followers. In the longrun, we all loose the opportunity to build a genuine coalition for change 7/n
. In the short term, the vector of false info gets thousands of RTs & even celebrity followers. In the longrun, we all loose the opportunity to build a genuine coalition for change 7/n
Finally, the time to start work on a genuine movement for change is now. The discontent of #EndSARS is an opportunity to build a new, more representative platform to challenge this gerontocracy. Otherwise same people with organized structures will recycle themselves in 2023 8/END
is an opportunity to build a new, more representative platform to challenge this gerontocracy. Otherwise same people with organized structures will recycle themselves in 2023 8/END
