Years after the #endsars protest that rocked Nigeria, especially at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, where security forces shot at peaceful protesters, most of the people that actively participated are still living in palpable fears of being arrested.
A victim of such arrest was one Ahmed Olawale who led some youths during the #endbadgovernance protest on August 1st, claiming that his friend was killed during the 2020 protest.
Olawale narrated how he was arrested on a fateful night after this year's endbadgovernance protest having been pursued by the Police on several occasions.
He said, "it was a replica of what i faced after the endsars protest when i survived by whiskers. Infact with this new onslaught my family at present is hoping for the worst".
Similar reports of missing people are being silently recorded in other parts of the country as it appears the abductors are operating with names and faces to reach their targets through informants and records.
Civil rights Organisations believe that this is a way of suppressing people's voices through allegedly through arrests, intimidation and extra judicial killings.
Years after violent suppression of nationwide #EndSARS protests against police brutality, at least fifteen protesters arrested in 2020 are allegedly still being arbitrarily detained – the majority of them without trial – in Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre and Ikoyi Medium Security Correctional Centre in Lagos.
The Nigerian authorities have filed trumped-up charges including theft, arson, possession of unlawful firearms, and murder against many of the protesters. Some of those detained allege that they have been subjected to torture.
Isa Sanusi Director Amnesty International Nigeria, who revealed this said seven #EndSARS protesters – Daniel Joy-Igbo, Sodiq Adigun, Sunday Okoro, Olumide Fatai, Oluwole Isa, Shehu Anas, and Akiniran Oyetakin – arrested in Lagos in 2020, are being arbitrarily held in Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State police command was said to have released 22 persons arrested in connection with the #EndSARS memorial protest this year.
The protesters were arrested at the Lekki tollgate area of the state.
The protesters called for full implementation of the reports from the judicial panels of inquiry set up after protests.
