For almost a week now, young Nigerians have hit the streets now counting thousands, protesting against the police brutality, and often times extrajudicial killings of innocent Nigerians by members of the Nigerian police force. Such instances have called for an end to the main perpetrators of these numerous heinous acts; the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS).

For some time now, FSARS have done nothing other than epitomise the ugliest class of police brutality. Corruption, oppression and abuse of authority are some of this unit’s most notable attributes, which in a twisted irony goes against their ethics.

When you take a deeper look at these qualities, you are reminded of another group that has been a thorn on the side of the Nigerian people for decades, the Nigerian Government.

Much like SARS, the Nigerian Government has been notorious for displaying colossal degrees of irresponsibility as it relates to fulfilling their administrative duties, failing to create ideas that could take the country out of its economical black hole, and disparaging status.

The Government much like SARS have also displayed very oppressive tendencies, whether it’s suggesting laws that take away the freedom of citizens to use their social media platforms freely, or that one time where a certain politician was caught on tape harassing and threatening a journalist over a question the man brought up. And, let’s not forget the sex shop incident, where an elected official was again, caught on tape, harassing a lady.

The current movement now is; #EndSARS, but some people are already looking to advance the protest to bad governance under the #EndBadGovernance.

The #EndSARS movement is no doubt highlighting the even more egregious problems of bad governance, and rightly so. The reality is, it is the government that created this unit and failed to put accountability measures in place to control a potentially dangerous team.

It is the government that has countlessly failed to take swift actions against the police officers who have been reported, and a lot of times caught on camera viciously violating citizens fundamental human rights. The government’s negligence to this issue has only encouraged more SARS officers to breach protocol without fear of repercussion. And it is this very same government that is turning a blind eye to the current outcry of its citizens to end SARS.

SARS may look bad, and it is, but the government has been a cause for outrage for far longer. It’s only natural that people begin to look at the broader scope of the problem and look to fix it.

Lets address the root cause which is bad government.#EndBadGovernanceinNIGERIA #EndSarsNow

— Odame Dennis D. (@DennysOdame) October 11, 2020

The broader problem in this regard is the government, and people trending #EndBadGovernance, are people who have deduced that the SARS is merely the by-product of awful leadership.

You promised to protect us but you end up killing us! You’ve taken our PEACE! You’ve stolen our RIGHTS! #EndPoliceBrutality #EndSARS #EndBadGovernanceinNIGERIA https://t.co/RA0cftp2oM

— Ridwan Aremu Adedapo ®️ (@RidwanAAdedapo) October 12, 2020

What we actually demand is good governance, security, welfare of the people, good infrastructure, standard health facilities, and good living conditions.#EndBadGovernanceinNIGERIA #EndPoliceBrutalityinNigeria

— Senator Enantomhen Andrew (@Enantomhen) October 12, 2020