Albert Olatunde Oloruntoba
Picture taken by author
I thought that as we mark the third year since the #ENDSARS protest and massacre of protesters, we continue to keep in mind that even though our failed leaders are conscious of the fact that Nigerian youths have the potential to stage what could be a national revival, it seems these youth themselves either do not know this or do not understand it. Also, although the youth lay like sleeping giants, I am sure that these inept leaders understand that the youth have the potential to strike again, and through any method. Joining the protest was the most nationalistic action I had taken for this nation, albeit, unplanned. I had just escaped the prolonged covid-19 lockdown that was imposed in SA only to find myself among the now popular #ENDSARS Protest. As if this was not enough, RwandAir decided to leave my luggage behind. When the bags returned four days after, one of my bags had been torn with what looked like a sharp iron. RwandAir had torn the front pocket of the box (my experience with RwandAir is a story for another day).
So, October nineteen, twenty-twenty, four days after I arrived in Lagos, RwandAir called me to come collect my luggage. I knew the #ENDSARS Protest was full-on, but I needed my luggage. I was able to find my way to the airport amidst the normal traffic hustle in Lagos even in the midst of the protest. When I was returning home, the protest had swollen up so much that my car got stuck just at about just of kilometer after I left the airport. We were stuck in the thick shouts and music of the protest. After about an hour in the car and practically unable to progress, I took one of the most practical decisions I had taken in a long while: got up from the car, with shirt half-buttoned as heat was dealing with me and joined the protest. I have to say that even as I type this, I am feeling the goosebumps that I felt that day. Nigeria was shaken, it looked as though something progressive was going to happen, the youths flooded the streets of both the local and international terminals of the airport but they were subdued. It was all youth, youths who believed they were changing the course of what has become normal in the Nigeria’s political landscape.
I got back home very late in the night with a lot of positivity in my heart, believing that the action will not only truly enforce the disbanding of SARS but further also to move the leaders’ hands towards listening to the plights of the oppressed masses in the country.
The following day was October twenty, twenty-twenty and the news of the toll gate massacre flooded tabloids, and media channels. Fire was opened on armless protesting youths. Youths were killed and many more injured. That was the breaking of the back of these hopeful youths. The protest on the streets of Lagos, Abuja, Benin, and other cities in Nigeria was a foreshadow of the national general elections that was going to take place in February 2023 when for the first time in the political history of Nigeria, more youths participated in voting, with hope in their hearts, and the will to influence the course of leadership in the nation. But again, like the brutal back-breaking that occurred at Lekki tollgate in October twenty, twenty-twenty, elections were marred by numerous vivid malpractices and youths were once again, left disappointed and subdued. Way forward from here? I hope the fire in the hearts of these youths does not go down, and most importantly, I hope they understand their capacity to change the course of politics in Nigeria, and then consciously take advantage of these capacities.
