Nigeria’s victims of #EndSARS protest violence await justice five years on | Protests

Lagos and Ogbomoso, Nigeria — Agbeze Ifeanyi Matthew huddled on the bottom in concern, considering his metropolis had change into a battlefield as a barrage of military gunfire rang out round him.

Beside him that night time, tons of of different younger protesters had been gathered on the Lekki tollgate in Nigeria’s financial capital, Lagos, waving inexperienced and white nationwide flags and singing the nationwide anthem.

The group tried to put low, however a couple of minutes later, Matthew felt one thing hit his chest adopted by a stream of heat liquid. When he seemed down, he noticed that he had been shot – the bullet getting into his chest earlier than exiting by way of his again.

Matthew stood up and tried to run to security, however stumbled, fell, and handed out. His fellow protesters carried him to the close by Basic Hospital, the place he was handled earlier than being transferred to a different facility.

“I had misplaced quite a lot of blood as a result of there have been two openings. Whereas I used to be being handled, I might hear the medical doctors and nurses speaking, however I couldn’t react or open my eyes,” the 35-year-old content material creator instructed Al Jazeera. “I assumed I used to be going to die.”

The bullet fractured two ribs, however Matthew was one of many fortunate ones to make it out alive. That October 20, 2020 night, there have been 48 casualties, together with a dozen folks killed, after Nigeria’s army opened fireplace on unarmed demonstrators.

#EndSARS protests

5 years in the past, 1000’s of younger Nigerians, together with Matthew, participated within the nationwide #EndSARS protests – a two-week lengthy demonstration towards the rogue police unit, the Particular Anti-Theft Squad, or SARS, which stood accused of a slew of crimes together with harassment, rape, profiling, extortion, and theft.

One of many causes Matthew – who often had dreadlocked, red- and gold-dyed hair – joined the demonstrations was as a result of he says he was recurrently profiled and harassed by SARS officers on his commutes in Lagos. As soon as, they even instructed him they may shoot him lifeless and there can be no repercussions, he recalled.

After years of complaints, and seeming impunity, demonstrators went out into the streets to demand the disbandment of the SARS unit, police reforms, and higher governance from the nation’s leaders.

However the peaceable protests had been recurrently met with violent responses from the safety forces. At first, tear gasoline and water cannons had been fired, then stay rounds had been used to disperse crowds throughout protest venues nationwide.

The day Matthew was shot was one of the crucial violent, and lethal, and is now referred to as the Lekki bloodbath. However 5 years later, regardless of the Lagos authorities promising justice for the victims and the institution of panels of inquiry into the violence in several states, Nigerians say justice has not been served.

Anietie Ewang, a Nigeria researcher at Human Rights Watch, instructed Al Jazeera that the nation strikes on too shortly from occasions such because the #EndSARS protests, and that is reflective of the impunity inside which Nigeria’s safety forces function.

“It’s also reflective of the failure of our justice system,” she mentioned. “I believe the 2 are actually linked. When you’ve got a justice system that’s unable to carry our safety forces accountable and even maintain different actors in authorities accountable, then we’re going to carry on having this kind of situation.”

Perpetual ache, frustration

The day after the Lekki capturing, Matthew remained in hospital being handled.

His siblings visited him, and among the protest organisers additionally supplied meals and hygiene provides reminiscent of towels and tissue paper, which he mentioned helped his keep.

“Whereas on the hospital, I noticed among the different folks introduced in from the protest web site. A few of them died whereas receiving remedy. I believe it’s a miracle I’m alive,” he mentioned.

The day after the capturing, the governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, additionally visited the protesters’ ward within the hospital and in a press release mentioned the order to shoot them got here from “forces past our direct management”. He promised the state would pay for victims’ hospital payments. Matthew mentioned he didn’t must pay for his hospital bills.

However after he was discharged, he struggled to get well, so some folks within the protest motion raised cash for him to get an X-ray. That’s when he found that his two injured ribs had been colliding, which continues to be a serious supply of ache.

At present, he’s but to get the surgical procedure he wants, as a result of he can not afford it. He stays in perpetual ache but additionally frustration, he says, as a result of justice has not been served, nobody has been charged in court docket, and neither the army nor the federal government has taken duty.

Completely different states arrange panels of inquiry into compensation for victims of SARS-related abuses in addition to safety forces’ violations in the course of the protests. Following the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, the state has paid at the very least 410 million naira ($279,000) in compensation to 70 victims and households of victims, whereas different states have additionally made funds.

Temitope Ajayi, senior particular assistant to the president on media and publicity, mentioned the federal authorities had no position within the setup for looking for justice and accountability for victims.

“The states arrange an investigative panel, and I believe Lagos state was the epicentre [of the protests], they usually did what they had been purported to do,” he mentioned.

Al Jazeera tried to contact the Lagos state authorities spokesperson and Lagos police by cellphone, however didn’t obtain a response.

No justice for the victims

Matthew’s ordeal is only one of many throughout Nigeria.

In Ogbomoso, Oyo state, 222km (138 miles) away from Lagos, the household of 21-year-old Jimoh Isiaka – the primary one who died within the 2020 nationwide protests – lives in anguish.

Jimoh Atanda continues to relive the day his son was shot lifeless.

Atanda, a bus driver, was coming back from a visit delivering dried fish in southwestern Nigeria, when neighbours known as to inform him that his son had been shot. By the point he bought to the positioning of the capturing, Jimoh had been rushed to the hospital, the place he was pronounced lifeless.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Atanda instructed Al Jazeera. “I used to be confused and simply drove right down to the hospital the place he was taken. Nobody ought to expertise the lack of their baby.”

Days later, members of parliament and the Oyo state governor visited the household and guaranteed them that there can be compensation and justice. Nonetheless, neither not materialised, Atanda says.

Over a interval of 4 months, he attended a sequence of panels of inquiry into what occurred on the protests. However not one of the guarantees made have been fulfilled half a decade later – the policemen who killed his son nonetheless roam free, and the household didn’t obtain any cash, Atanda mentioned.

Al Jazeera tried to contact the Oyo state authorities spokesperson by cellphone about compensation and efforts to safe justice, however was unable to achieve them.

“What we see is quite a lot of lip service that speaks to such efforts in the beginning the place there’s quite a lot of clamouring and push towards the authorities however nothing after that preliminary interval,” HRW’s Ewang mentioned.

Atanda remains to be grappling with the dying of his son, however says his spouse is faring worse than him. She has been out and in of the hospital with well being points since Jimoh died, and issues are often worse in October, the month he was killed, when her grief turns into heightened.

Their burden is barely barely eased once they see Jimoh’s baby.

“As a result of he had a baby, we’re a bit of bit consoled. It’s insufferable. One should simply settle for of their thoughts that God has carried out his will,” Atanda mentioned.

When requested what he would love from the federal government, he mentioned, “there’s nothing they’ll do for us that will probably be equal to our lifeless son”. However, he added, “we wish them to do what is true.”

Justice for the victims has been obstructed as a result of “systemic failure of state establishments” to behave with integrity, in response to Adewunmi Emoruwa, the worldwide coverage lead at Abuja-based public technique agency Gatefield.

“At its core, #EndSARS was a name for governance rooted in accountability and respect for human dignity,” he mentioned. “The violent response and the sustained silence that adopted uncovered deep institutional weaknesses: a tradition of impunity, a fragile rule of regulation, and a state-citizen relationship constructed on mistrust.”

Troublesome to just accept loss

After the protests ended, the federal government tried to disclaim the October 20 Lekki capturing.

Lai Mohammed, then minister of data and tradition, known as it a “phantom bloodbath” and mentioned the army didn’t shoot at protesters. Earlier than the capturing, close by CCTVs had been disabled. The morning after, waste vans with brushes had been deployed to wash away the blood and bullet shells.

Nonetheless, there was overwhelming simple proof: the capturing was livestreamed on Instagram by Obianuju Udeh, a preferred disc jockey referred to as DJ Change. Afterward, a panel of inquiry discovered the military culpable within the capturing.

The Lagos state authorities additionally tried to secretly bury 103 folks killed in the course of the course of the protests in several elements of Lagos earlier than stress by activists and civil proper teams pressured them to cease.

HRW’s Ewang mentioned it’s tough for households of victims to just accept loss or proceed knocking endlessly on doorways till justice is served.

“It’s pertinent that we see this by way of, and it shouldn’t simply be on them. It also needs to be on the bigger society to maintain on discussing and pushing for this accountability to occur,” she mentioned.

The #EndSARS protests had been a second of uncommon unity in a rustic typically divided alongside ethnic, political and spiritual traces, many Nigerians say, and the youth galvanising for improved socioeconomic situations, amongst their different calls for, gave extra folks confidence to take part.

“It’s the solely time I’ve ever seen on this Nigeria that one tribe didn’t discriminate towards the opposite; we had been all in unity and I perceived one thing nice was going to occur from there,” Matthew mirrored.

Nonetheless, the #EndSARS expertise additionally left him disillusioned, particularly as he was shot whereas waving Nigeria’s flag, opposite to standard perception that troopers and the police revered the nation’s image an excessive amount of to shoot at it.

On the similar time, many really feel policing has not improved.

Within the rapid aftermath of the protests, the federal government disbanded the SARS unit, and officers had been reabsorbed into different models inside the police pressure. However the disbandment didn’t put an end to police abuse, say Nigerians.

October trauma

5 years after the #EndSARS violence, coverage analyst Emoruwa mentioned the absence of justice displays not solely the failure to prosecute these accountable, but additionally the erosion of public religion within the state’s ethical authority.

“True justice requires authorized accountability, prosecuting the perpetrators. It calls for institutional reform, making certain that safety businesses are topic to civilian oversight,” he mentioned.

“And it requires collective truth-telling and acknowledgment as a result of nations that refuse to confront their very own violence can not construct credible futures.”

In the meantime, in Ikorodu, a metropolis northeast of Lagos, Matthew remains to be reeling from all he misplaced 5 years in the past.

The day after the capturing at Lekki, whereas he lay in hospital, his septuagenarian father went into shock after listening to the information about his son, and died.

Whereas nonetheless recovering from the capturing, Matthew misplaced his job at a gasoline firm. He has not discovered full-time work since.

As one other October comes round, Matthew fears he gained’t be capable of sleep properly as a result of it’s a month when he’s reminded of his trauma. All of the whereas, he waits for justice that doesn’t appear to come back.

“I thank God for my life,” he mentioned, “despite the fact that I’m nonetheless in ache and haven’t any cash to go for the surgical procedure.”