It seems like the 2020 #EndSARS protests, to stop police brutality and indiscriminate killing of Nigerian youth was just another event in Nigeria. Security agents may have gone back to doing the same things that started the protests in October 2020.

Medical Doctor, Owen Edo-Ojo‘s recent brutality story is the kind we thought we would not have to listen to or read anywhere. But, here we are, knowing brutality never left, and there is no political will to stop it.

The story

At about 7 pm, Saturday, March 19, 2022, Owen’s story was about to begin. According to a narration by his mother, he had gone for an exercise and parked in front of a building to go about the activities of the exercise.

Not long after he had parked, someone approached the car and asked him to “move the car or I move you” – partly Nigerian security agent lingo. He may have been screaming at Owen.

Owen wound down the glass and responded, asking the ‘man’ to talk calmly, not attempt to break the glass.

“The next thing he said, ‘I will kill you and the federal government will give him thanks,” His mother narrated.

The conversation had not lasted before Owen saw three other people around him. He was dragged out of the car and beaten like a non-human.

“He managed to get to a Police station to report the incident, but one of them brought a knife and stabbed him on the neck, the other one gave him a cut on the hand.”

She said when the Police got to the scene, the men, who are reportedly Naval Officers, started shooting and he was shot three times.

“…and shot him on the thighs and on the pelvis. When he is not a criminal! One of the bullets has been removed, two are still inside.”

With tears in her eyes, Owen’s mother appealed to the federal government, the Navy, the Army, the Police, to investigate the matter, to find out the culprit, and why he deserved the ill-treatment he was given.

Nigerian citizens are in an abusive relationship with security agents, the government…

#EndSARS hardly taught security agents any lessons. Partly because of the way the protests ended – in a very tyrannical manner, especially with Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration, and the shooting that took place at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

One year after peaceful #EndSARS protests ended in a brutal crackdown by Nigerian security forces in Abuja, Lagos and other parts of the country, no one has been brought to justice for the torture, violence, and killings of peaceful protesters, while reports of human rights violations by the police continue.

Amnesty International, October 20, 2021

It is seven months until we remember the trauma we passed through on October 20, 2020, and the stories continue. We imagine how it would have been if social media had not existed to bring these stories to the forefront. Yet, do not want to imagine it.

The #EndSARS struggle continues.

The #EndSARS protest also requested the government do an upward review of the salaries of security agents and do proper psychological training of these men and women before they are recruited.

The psychological training should be done at intervals after recruitment. This should include a reminder of their responsibilities, considering that many security agents hardly know that they are supposed to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians.

It is this lack of training that cases like Owen’s would happen and the ‘federal government would thank them’ because they are benefitting from the failed system.

There are too many stories of armed men in uniform telling Nigerian citizens that they would be beaten to stupor or killed and nothing will happen.

It was reported on March 16 that a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), serving in Oyo, was allegedly shot by a Policeman on a stop and search routine at a new garage in Oluyole Local Government Area of the state.

Before then, it was reported that a student of Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa, Samuel Akinsuyi, was allegedly shot by a police officer on Eruwa-Ibadan road.

The state Police Command through its spokesperson, Adewale Osifeso, confirmed the arrest of four of its men who were involved in the alleged shooting.

Earlier in 2018, the then Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command, CP Edgal Imohimi, ordered the arrest of four policemen alleged to have fired some shots at the airport tollgate, hitting one Tunde Adeparusi, leaving him injured.

But, prevention is better than that.

In 2019, the Nigerian Police amended an order on the use of firearms to bring the rules more into line with international law. But, the Lekki tollgate shooting happened. So, it was just an amendment that never saw execution.

Security agents, in different uniforms, have been accused of abuse of power and extortion for so long that not too many people remember how and when it started.

Some make references to the colonial period when the masters used excessive force on Nigerians. But, Nigeria was handed independence in October 1960, and, if that were the case, the promise of reforms should have come earlier, decades before, and not lip service as we have it now.

How else do we tell security agents in Nigeria that their job is to protect, and not kill and maim, if not through reforms, and effective justice systems?