EndSARS victims’ demands remain unmet in Nigeria six years on
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Vanguard
Six years after the EndSARS protests against police violence in Nigeria, civil society organisations and lawyers say victims’ demands remain largely unmet. They say the authorities’ commitments have not led to improved policing, Vanguard reports.
The demands behind the #EndSARS protests remain largely unmet in Nigeria, civil society organisations and lawyers said on the movement’s sixth anniversary, according to Vanguard. They also said that the commitments made by the government had not been implemented and that the victims’ sacrifices had not led to an improvement in policing.
Launched in October 2020 against violence, extortion, torture, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial executions attributed to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), the movement led the police to announce the dissolution of the unit on 11 October 2020. Protesters nevertheless continued to demand reforms, reparations and prosecutions of those responsible, Vanguard recalls.
The crackdown on 20 October 2020 at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos was the deadliest moment of the mobilisation. Amnesty International recorded at least 12 protesters killed in Lekki and Alausa that day. Judicial panels established in several states investigated the police violence, but the implementation of their recommendations remains contested, according to Vanguard.
The commemoration comes as Nigerian unions threaten a national mobilisation on 27 October, a deadline announced on 22 October 2026.
