Abstract
The spontaneous protest by Nigerian youth against police brutality on 8 October 2020 was a symbolic representation of public displeasure with historical police brutality in the country that commenced with the description of the federal government’s response to the declaration of Biafra on 6 July 1967, as “police action”. Popularly known as the #EndSARS protest, public outrage at the brutal activities of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) against citizens reached its crescendo with the release of video and audio-visual content of SARS officers harassing and brutalising innocent citizens. This chapter argues that this protest was aggravated by the deepening governance crisis. The culture of nepotism in the public sector has resulted in widespread unemployment among Nigerian youth and the SARS applies brute force with seeming impunity in monitoring their efforts to secure a livelihood. The chapter submits that while the #EndSARS protest signalled the capacity of a restless youth population to engage the government, the impunity that accompanies security personnel’s application of force could well precipitate more generalised protest against the Nigerian state.
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Fagbadebo, O., Oluwalogbon, L. (2023). Conflict, Police Impunity and the Governance Question in Nigeria: Reflecting on the #EndSARS Protest. In: Contemporary Issues on Governance, Conflict and Security in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29635-2_5
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