Protests against police brutality in Nigeria have brought Africa’s largest city to a standstill and dominated social media, channelling anger among the frustrated youth that has forced the government to listen.
“This is unprecedented,” Udo Jude Ilo from the Open Society Initiative in West Africa told AFP, pointing out that protests in Nigeria are normally organised by political parties or unions.The movement first targeted the police’s notorious federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad after a video of an officer allegedly killing a man went viral.
But the government has previously promised to end the unit and not followed through, so the protests have continued and even spread, the country’s youth vowing to hold the authorities accountable.“It’s no news to us that things are said but not actually done,” said Anita Izato, a young lawyer based in the capital Abuja.“For me it’s personal because I have five brothers, and police usually target young men,” said the 24-year-old, who helped spearhead demonstrations.
“Mobilisation has been huge because the youth actually faces an injustice that they can all relate to, that goes beyond tribes and family backgrounds,” Leo Dasilva, a 28-year-old equity investor and real estate developer who has nearly 100,000 followers on Twitter, told AFP. “I’m just a conscientious citizen like others affected by police brutality. I’m not an activist, I don’t play any role, I just use my voice,” the 23-year-old told AFP.“This mobilisation has been all about the connections of the youth, the ones out there on the streets, raising funds, using their influence correctly, the youths who are public figures telling everyone to stand firm and the youths in diaspora that really care.
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