The youth-led #EndSARS protest of 2020 may have a significant impact on the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
Outrage against the excesses of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit of the Nigeria police, started initially as social media campaigns but snowballed into street protests when the youths in October 2020 poured into the streets in their thousands across the country’s cities and towns to peacefully demand good governance and the disbandment of SARS.
The peaceful protest which was well-coordinated by the youths, however, assumed a violent dimension when security agents, mostly soldiers, on the night of October 20 attacked the youths at Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos.
While the number of those killed and injured is being disputed till date, the unwarranted attack resulted in the transmutation of the peaceful protest into violent demonstrations, culminating in carnage and wanton destruction of economic assets across the country, especially in Lagos State.
Though the protest came to an abrupt end, the determined youths vowed to take active part in the 2023 general elections and put an end to bad governance in the country.
While the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the major opposition party, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) dismissed the threats of the youths as unrealistic given the fact that general elections have always been a two-horse race, the dynamics changed in May 2022 when Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor, joined the Labour Party (LP) and was elected as its presidential candidate. Obi’s entrance into the race was received with wild jubilations among the youths, especially the leaders of the #End- SARS protest.
Some of these leaders, such as Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigner, Aisha Yesufu, Rinu Oduala; popular comedian and activist, Debo Adedayo (Mr. Macaroni) and the music sensation duo, P-Square, have been mobilising support for Obi and encouraged youths to register, get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in order to vote in the 2023 general elections.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which just concluded its Continuous Voter’s Registration (CVR) exercise across the country in its latest report disclosed that about 71% percent of the 12.2 million newly registered voters are youths.
According to the statistics released by the electoral umpire, about 8.7 million are between the ages of 18 and 34 while about 2.4 million are between ages 35 and 49.
Speaking with Daily Independent, Festus Keyamo (SAN), Minister of State for Labour and Employment and spokesperson of the APC for the 2023 presidential election, said the outcome of the EndSARS protest will not have any impact on the 2023 elections as most of the issues raised by the protesters have been addressed by the Federal Government.
“They asked for a disbandment of SARS, it was disbanded. They asked for a retraining of policemen, it was granted and that is going on now.
So, I don’t see any anger in the land again because all the demands were addressed”.
However, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, disagrees with Keyamo, saying that the issues that led to the EndSARS protest will play a significant role in the 2023 elections.
Adegboruwa, who was a member of the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry, said most of the reports of the EndSARS panel have not been implemented across the country while the government has also failed to find solutions to the myriads of problems confronting the nation.
“The issues that led to the EndSARS protest will play a significant role in the 2023 general elections. This is because the electorate have become more enlightened.
“The people are waiting to pay the APC government back in its own coin, not only for EndSARS but for bad governance, insecurity, the universities are locked up, aviation fuel has messed up the airline industry, people cannot travel on the road because of insecurity.
“The trains have all been withdrawn because of insecurity, inflation is climbing up, foreign exchange is uncontrollable.
It is like we are at a war front presently. I know that surely, Nigerians will pay APC back for this poor performance during the 2023 general elections”, Adegboruwa said.
In his reaction, Kola Ologbondiyan, immediate past National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, also said the End- SARS protest will have an impact on the outcome of the 2023 elections.
He said, “Nigerian youths will pay back with their votes those who ensured that their fellow compatriots were murdered on that fateful night.
“No matter who the presidential candidate of APC is; no matter what they do, Nigerians, especially the youths will demand an account of their roles in the killings that took place in Lekki.”
On his part, Monday Ubani, former Second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL), said the enthusiasm of the youths as regards taking part in the 2023 elections is highly commendable.
“What I have seen so far is that there is a resurgence of enthusiasm on the part of the younger generation to participate in the electoral process in Nigeria, going by their engagement on the social media and the passion they showed by registering to get their PVCs in order to vote.
“Whether the same spirit that was evident during End- SARS will play out in the 2023 elections is another thing entirely.
This is because most of the leaders that led the EndSARS protest are already taking positions politically now, even in different political parties.
