#EndSARS Anniversary -By Charles Ogbu

October 20, 2020 Lekki Tollgate killing conclusively destroyed any shred of hope most people had in this thing masquerading as a nation.

To see a National Army open fire on unarmed citizens asking for better policing while HOLDING THE NATIONAL FLAG AND SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM was something inconceivable even in the worst dictatorship.

But,

The Nigerian state did not only do this, she went further to lie so shamelessly and so scandalously just to cover up her treasonable act.

One minute, they claimed Nigerian soldiers were never in Lekki. The next minute, they said soldiers went there but only with rubber bullets. I don’t know which day soldiers started using rubber bullets. Even when there was a live coverage of the shameful festival of death by the bravest and noblest of them all, DJ Switch and a detailed report complete with forensic analysis from the Cable News Network (CNN) showing that indeed, soldiers were there and that they fired live bullets and killed people with identities of some of the victims and their relatives, the government still denied any culpability.

As a Nigerian, you can’t even know whether it is the fact that your own government fired live bullets at unarmed civilians or their attempt at denial even in the face of irrefutable evidence that should draw more tears from you.

A year after, has the government learnt any lesson?

Has the Police Force learnt any lesson?

We all saw what happened in Lagos today during the anniversary.

On the positive side, the perfect and smooth manner the Nigerian youths organized and sustained the protests until the government introduced violence using both state and non-state actors shows that all hope is not lost.

But tragically, the realist in me tells me that this same bunch of irresponsible rogues both at the state and federal level will still continue ruining our lives even post 2023 because there is no practical strategy for pushing them out of power.

This, here, is the biggest tragedy of it all.