Open AccessThe state, EndSARS protests and human rights violation in Nigeria
Author(s) -
Kenneth Chinedu Asogwa,
Herbert C. Ede,
Anthony Chiso Ajah,
Paul Hezekiah Omeh,
Mathias Ikechukwu Asadu,
Demian Chimezie Ogbabor,
Elias Chukwuemeka Ngwu
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ikenga journal of business administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2714-4321
pISSN - 2006-4241
DOI - 10.53836/ijia/2021/22/2/004
Subject(s) - authoritarianism , human rights , state (computer science) , political science , democracy , politics , corporate governance , political economy , law , sociology , finance , algorithm , computer science , economics
In November 2017, there was an online protest against police brutality and highhandedness in Nigeria. By October 2020, the citizens’ discontent and dissatisfaction with the activities of the police led to a mass revolt against the institution, specifically against the Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) of the force. The response of the Nigerian state to the protest was total repression and subjugation of the demonstrators. Given the scale of the protest and the government’s response, this momentous event has attracted scholarly attention. The extant literature has identified governance deficit, illiteracy of police officers, the dynamics of the political economy and youth activism as factors that fueled the protest. The present study, therefore, explores the character of the state in the post-colonial society as a link towards the understanding of the fundamental issues that triggered the protests. Through the use of secondary sources of data collection and content analysis, the work found out that there is a trend and pattern of authoritarian governance and violation of human rights by the Nigerian state, which seems to have emanated from the long years of military rule and colonisation. The implication of the foregoing is that the state ought to imbibe democratic ethos as a condition for upholding the fundamental human rights of its citizens.