Quizzes

Stacks

Shows

Podcasts

Newsletters

Naira Life

Love Life

Hustleprint

Love Currency

Sunken Ships

What She Said

My Bro

So You Don’t Have To

Interview With…

Zikoko Memes

Jollof Road

Cholera Outbreak Update

Follow our socials

  • On the 8th October 2020, 43 EndSARS protesters gathered outside the Lagos State Government house to air their grievances. Despite the protests being peaceful, these protesters were harassed by the men of the Nigerian Police Force, who seized their tents and chairs and brandished their weapons at protesters in a bid to disperse the gathering.

    But what do the EndSARS protesters want?

    The Special Anti Robbery Squad is a unit of the Nigerian police force originally designated to counter the spate of armed robberies in the country. In a wild twist, the SARS unit has persistently been in the news nationwide, accused of harassing, extorting, kidnapping, raping, maiming and killing Nigerian citizens, particularly younger people. 

    In what seems to be a recurring pattern, the Inspector General of Police and the federal government have repeatedly promised to reform the police unit and announced bans on SARS operations but these have so far yielded nothing. Regularly, grueling accounts of sour experiences with SARS surface on the internet.

    The protesters have repeatedly demanded that out-of-control armed police unit be completely scrapped. 

    In an interview with Channels TV, the Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Police Force, Frank Mba, had suggested that there were subsersive elements who wanted SARS scrapped for their selfish benefits.

    https://twitter.com/ValzilFabulous/status/1314487642281705474?s=20

    It remains to be seen how young citizens clamouring for the right to live their lives freely without threat to life or harassment are subversive elements.

    https://twitter.com/ValzilFabulous/status/1314487642281705474?s=20

    The Lagos State House of Assembly has also joined the call on the Federal Government to #EndSARS 

    So far, the protesters have had one clear, unified message the complete scrapping of SARS and a reform of the Nigerian Police Force

    https://twitter.com/obuteaku1/status/1314483487941029888?s=20
    https://twitter.com/markessien/status/1314431249340149760?s=20

  • The Nigeria police extorting innocent Nigerians isn’t news. It has gotten so bad over the years that they have grown bolder with their moves. Insisting civilians make a cash transfer to their personal account or taking them to withdraw money at an ATM.  Today, I spoke with 6 Nigerian women about their encounter with the Nigerian police.

    Sarah

    I was going to Ikorodu so I had to use the bus from Ojota. I wore a baggy jumper and a crop top that was just over my belly. When I got to Ojota garage, the agberos there started catcalling me. This alerted the police that had a check-up stand around the area. A policeman approached me and tried to arrest me. I was not having it. Meanwhile, the agberos and petty traders were still roaring in “righteous indignation”. He told me to go speak to his boss in the Hilux. I went, greeted the man, told him I wasn’t sure why everyone was shouting nor why I was being interrogated by his officer. He started laughing, casually opened a canister of teargas and emptied it on my forehead and face and then told me to go. My face and eyes burned the whole day.

    Elizabeth

    My friends and I went clubbing. On our way back, the Police stopped our car and threatened to take us to the police station. Now that I think about it, I am not sure if they were really policemen or SARS officers because they weren’t wearing any uniform and they came in a rickety bus. Anyway, they put us in their bus and start driving around. Our male friends in another car called us and start freaking out. The police people said they were taking all of us because we were prostitutes and didn’t have ID. Money came out and they let us go. I heard some girls got arrested and slept in a cell. 

    Regina

    I wasn’t sure if they were police or SARS cause they weren’t wearing a uniform but I know it was past midnight and I was attending a house party with my girlfriends. When they flagged out car down, I was scared because they were holding guns and we had recreational marijuana on us. They flagged our car down and our of reflex or fear I get jamming the doors locked when the bolt driver tried to open it. They searched the car and couldn’t find anything.

    After calling us prostitutes and focusing squarely on us and not even the Bolt driver, they decided to search us. I didn’t quite get it until one tried to touch me and I swerved. My friend got on her knees and started pleading in Yoruba, trying to get all friendly with them. I wasn’t going to allow them to touch us some type of way but I wasn’t going to kneel down either. The whole experience was just horrible. They took our 10k and called us lesbians. I later found the weed under the passenger seat lmao. I knew my Yoruba mother’s prayers on my head was working.

    Habibat

    I was returning from a party with my girlfriends when the police stopped us. I could tell from his slurred speech that he had been drinking. He called us prostitutes and told us to come down from our uber. He searched my bag looking for drugs and then pointed his gun at me. Saying it was us Arewa girls that like to stay naked under our jalamia. There was traffic along that berger road because of us. His colleagues had to step in and apologise for his behaviour. Even then, he kept pointing his gun at me talking about wasting prostitutes like me. It didn’t matter that I had a long flowing gown and my scarf on.

    Nana-Aisha

     I was on my way back home from the mall, where I went to buy new headphones. As I turned to Agidingbi, in Ikeja, I noticed some random bus following me. I didn’t think too much of it until the bus started speeding up towards me. Because I am paranoid as hell I turned away from my initial way home, and they followed. That’s when I was sure they were trailing me I sent my location to my friends and a description of the bus in case something happened to me. It was getting ridiculous after a few more turns so I parked. 

    As soon as I parked, one of them jumped in front of my car and pointed his gun at me. Another one tried to open the door to my car but it was locked. Then they started shouting, “why were you running?” I was so confused, I was like “why were you following me?” They said something about how I fit the description of an accomplice for some yahoo boys around the area because of my nose ring and face.

    They didn’t even do the routine Nigerian police “may we meet you,” they just asked me to open my car door and get out. I mean, I had to because they had guns. They then proceeded to turn my car upside down in the name of a stop and search. It was so annoying. I remember asking what they were looking for and worrying that they’d plant drugs in my car or something, they didn’t even have an answer.

    When they couldn’t find anything, they tried to search my body and insisted I opened my phone for them to check for “evidence”. They saw that I had shared my location with friends and they also saw an article I had been sharing with my contacts from the day before. It was that period a member of the TECH community accused SARS officers of extorting him, I had covered the story. It was so weird because SARS stopped me and saw my article about ENDSARS. 

    I identified myself as a journalist. The article pissed them off so much they let me go.

    Abigail

    So I went to computer village one time with my cousin. We were about to leave when a man, that wasn’t in uniform, stopped us and asked where we were going. We said we were going home. He asked for our phones and after going through it asked where I got the money to buy an Iphone. I told him my mother bought it for me.

    He started talking about taking me to the police station for questioning. I didn’t argue with him. I said “okay but I’d have to call my mom first.” He asked who my mother was and I told him to wait that he’ll soon find out. He started fidgeting and asked me to just settle him. Luckily, I didn’t have any cash on me. He asked me to withdraw and I said I didn’t have a card. I had to open my purse to show him the 200 Naira in it. He still took the money. 

    Names were changed to protect the identity of the women.

    Recommended: 8 Nigerians Recount Their Ordeals With The Nigerian Police

  • Over a hundred women have been arrested and detained by the Abuja police in the past couple of weeks. The arrests were made after raiding a couple of clubs in Abuja.

    The women’s crimes? ‘Prostitution and/or clubbing’. But here’s the funny thing about that, nowhere in Nigeria’s Criminal or Penal Code is clubbing a crime. And although prostitution is a crime under the Penal Code, so is solicitation. However, only women were arrested.

    Prisoner with handcuffs on hands

    Public outcry only began over the last couple of days. But this weekend isn’t the first time this type of raid is happening. Before 70 women were arrested last Saturday night, 30 women were arrested in another raid two weeks ago. And these are only the raids we know of. We don’t know how long these raids have gone on for, and how long they’ll continue.

    According to the police, noise pollution and the fact the property one of the clubs is located on, isn’t being used according to plan was the reason for the first raid. None of the club’s owners or managers were arrested in the raid. Do you know who was? Customers. And only female customers.

    The police are now claiming the women arrested were prostitutes. But no evidence has been provided by the police to back up their claims. Also, the women are being denied access to legal aid, which is their constitutional right. This denial is a breach of their rights.

    The worst part of this already heartbreaking story are the several reports that have surfaced of rape and sexual assault of the women in custody by the police.

    If you were wondering what police leaders planned to do about this debacle, here is what Yomi Shogunle, the Assistant Commissioner of Police had to say about the arrests.

    Again prostitution is only criminalised in the Northern states of Nigeria and Abuja, not the whole country.

    The women are still in custody and no one is being allowed access to them.

    The biggest takeaway from this? It’s clearly a crime to be a woman in Nigeria.

  • Uncle Yemi Osinbajo has done it again. This time, he has shown out for guys about the dreadful SARS situation.

    Why does it seem like whenever Baba Bubs goes on one of his frequent medical trips, things just seem to work a little better? Somebody help me say political gimmicks good governance.

    On Tuesday August 14, the Acting President aka Uncle Yemi gave directives to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris to overhaul the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    We were shook!

    Especially because all our complaints had always been brushed off as false or exaggerated.

    Just a few weeks ago, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Yomi Shogunle still trolled Nigerians with this irresponsible tweet. He should better switch careers if he wants to be making silly jokes online.

    Oh, you remember SARS, the police unit that was so infamous for their abuse of power and Nigerian citizens, we had to write you a survival guide?

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BcUyVmPn2NS/?taken-by=endsarsmovement_now_

    This is just one of the many, many videos people have used to back their complaints. Let’s not even go into pictures and narratives. But we’re all lying, hey. The #EndSARS movement has been going for at least two years! Nonstop police brutality for two years.

    While we’re overjoyed that our pleas and relentless #EndSARS campaign finally made some headway, we still have some doubts.

    Way too many people have been unlawfully killed, jailed and extorted for us to just accept it, and things are often not what they seem in Nigeria. Gotta stay woke.

    First of all, it is important to note that this overhaul doesn’t mean the police department is going to be scrapped.

    This overhaul is more like a reform. In summary, the state SARS will be broken down and the officers reassigned to the already existing Federal SARS (there will only be FSARS). I know what you’re thinking, but chill. We are told that this is only going to be after investigations into the existing abuse allegations have been done, as well as mental evaluations and retraining.

    Again, I know what you’re thinking, because even the Federal SARS people abuse the citizens.

    The new FSARS is to be strictly intelligence-driven and their duties are to be restricted to the prevention and detection of armed robbery, kidnapping, and apprehension of offenders related to the stated offences. Nothing else.

    At least that’s what they’re telling us. Me I’m only a reporter.

    How are the illegal arrests going to stop, you ask?

    Well, the new FSARS officers are now mandated to go about bearing proper identities. They will have a ‘new’ uniform so there will be no more random black-polo-clad-hoodlum-looking-ass-niggas jumping out of unmarked space buses. At least this will curb the possibility of the officers being impersonated by armed robbers and such. Also, THEY ARE NO LONGER AUTHORISED TO STOP AND SEARCH! Let’s forget the fact that I still saw the same SARS doing that just yesterday.

    What can we do if we still get harassed?

    Call the police lol. Honestly, I don’t have an answer for this. This is a commendable move on Uncle Yemi’s part, but we worry about the enforcement and implementation. Hopefully, this is not just another one of those reforms that don’t change anything at the end of the day.

    And if you’re like me that is happy about this development but still believes this is just pre-election gra-gra and doesn’t trust anything this government does, I hope you’ve gotten your PVC o!

    If you haven’t, there are two more weeks for you to register. Hurry! If you need any help, we gatchu!

  • Nigeria’s military regime wasn’t perfect and was met with resistance from outspoken Nigerians such as Fela, Gani Fawehinmi and Ken Saro-Wiwa.

    Being the radical that he was, Fela threw heavy shade at the Nigerian military in his 1977 song, Zombie, where he compared the soldiers to mindless Zombies.

    In the light of the recent protests against police brutality in the US, American rapper, Jay-Z, compiled a list of songs that addressed social injustices in a selection he titled, Songs For Survival.

    And because Fela’s legendary status and his Zombie song will be forever relevant, Jay-Z added this great song to the collection which is available for download on Tidal.

    You can listen to Fela’s Zombie here.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj5x6pbJMyU
    You can also listen to Songs Of survival via Tidal here.