In a gory event widely described as Black Tuesday, Nigerians witnessed one of the most violent crackdowns on protest since the Enugu Iva Valley Massacre in 1949. Like bloodthirsty Vamps, the army and police on October 20, descended on peaceful protesters with the kind of force and desperation only witnessed in movies and war. We lost our Brothers, Friends, Fathers, Mothers, Sons and Daughters to the uncontrollable bloodlust of a rapacious and highly vindictive ruling elites. Just like yesterday, we saw our friends lying helplessly on the floor, drowned in their own pool of blood. Armed only with flags and solidarity songs, our friends were shot without mercy and hunted like games for exercising their legitimate right to protest. It was a day when the cries of despair competed with the horrific sounds of bullets.
And as we watch our brothers fall to their death and our sisters drowned in their own pull of blood, we wondered if we had committed any crime for demanding a country where the creed of citizenship is respected and being young isn’t criminalized. We wondered if we had erred by demanding an end to the culture of impunity, respect for the rule of law, and democratic ethos. We marveled at what kind of a country treats its citizens with such disdain and unprecedented cruelty. Our protest which had lingered for close to two weeks was mobilized around specific demands to end police brutality, extrajudicial killings, and proper remuneration for the armed forces. However, on October 20, the government sent a clear message that it wouldn’t be willing to put an end to this undemocratic and barbaric practice. It was clear that our two-week protest, despite grounding the entire country, fell on deaf ears. We were not only brutalized and killed by the police, the latter and the military competed for the highest kill.
Amidst the madness of the massacre, the Lagos state government directed the Judicial Panel of inquiries to include the Lekki Massacre as part of its term of reference. Prior to this, the Lagos State Governor, Sanwo-Olu had denied having a single knowledge about the Lagoswide onslaught against protesters and had placed the blame at the doorsteps of the military. In a counter defense, the Military expressed grave shock at the denial of the Lagos Governor and reiterated that they stormed the streets of Lagos on the request of the Governor. It wasn’t until then the Governor made a U-turn and now admitted inviting the military. This was a man who in a CNN interview, shamelessly lied to the World about his involvement in this dastardly aggression and violent murder of our friends at Lekki and other parts of Lagos. What is more unfortunate albeit not surprising is the loud silence of both the Lagos House and National Assembly. None of these legislative organs devoted time to deliberate on this sad incident. Despite admittance of complicity by the culprits of the Lekki Massacre, no single action from state and national legislative arms. This was a time Nigerians completely lost confidence in their democracy and had to rely on the British Parliament to protect its interest. You will recall a similar occurrence with Sowore’s trial where it took the US parliament to deliberate and condemn the invasion of our court, disregard for court orders, rights violation, and sham trial of Sowore by the tyrannic Buhari regime, whereas the Nigerian legislative arm kept mum and were observing table manners.
Of greater insult is how Sanwo-Olu had the temerity to direct the investigation of killings where he had played a very conspicuous role. And ever since the constitution of the infamous judicial panel, no single government official has been brought to book. Despite incontrovertible visual evidence and testimonies that have indicted the military and the state governor, no single conviction has happened. On the contrary, what we see is the same shameless culprits going after EndSARS protesters. We see a government that freezes account of some EndSARS Protesters, hounding several others to their homes and continue to arrest and remand scores in prison. As we speak, there are several EndSARS protesters like Nicholas Mbah languishing in different Nigerian Prisons, while the culprits who ordered and coordinated the murder and brutalization of our friends continue to walk freely.
Needless to say, the Nigerian government and the armed forces have become more ruthless and lawless since the EndSARS protest. They have now openly turned Nigeria into a police state where rights to peaceful assembly have now been officially criminalized. Police and Military have become more emboldened in abusing the rights of Nigerians and now have no business chasing crimes while the entire country falls to the control of insecurity, kidnappings, and banditry. Nigerians aren’t only getting more insecure in their own country, they are also getting poorer with unprecedented economic hardship.
Conclusively, it is more than evident that Nigerians cannot continue to watch while Buhari and the APC rule us like a conquered people. We cannot continue to watch in docility and fear as the government rips us of our humanity, dignity, and citizenship. We cannot continue to agonize in despair as Buhari continues to handover our country to the rule of banditry, kidnappings, poverty, lawlessness, and anarchy. It is clear that the status quo is deleterious, its funeral is long overdue; RevolutionNow.
Nnamdi Okorie said in late October, after the widespread protests against police brutality in Nigeria resulted in days of tumult in Oyigbo, a crowded suburb of the oil hub southern city of Port Harcourt, soldiers moved from house to house and searched for members of the separatist pro-Biafra group, IPOB.
Local authorities had blamed members of the state-banned Indigenous People of Biafra for the rampage that saw police stations and army patrol vehicles torched and six soldiers and four police officers killed in the town.
When soldiers arrived the Okories home, they wanted to take his 22-year-old son away, he said. But the young man, Obinna, refused to board the army’s Hilux pickup and tried to escape. He was shot dead and his body taken away by the soldiers, sending residents who witnessed the killing fleeing for safety.
“They should please give me my son’s body either dead or alive; I am committing all things to God who is the ultimate judge,” Okorie told Ubuntu Times, weeping.
For the days that followed, the River State government imposed a round-the-clock curfew and troops barricaded the area, leaving residents without access to water and food as security forces combed the area and randomly attacked locals, residents said.
“It was very tense. People could not come in or go out of the place for days. It was more like a war zone,” said Ike Azubuike, an oil worker who lives in the town.
Enforcing the curfew brought more casualties. Remigus Nkwocha said her husband who had gone on October 25 to a nearby market to purchase food items they could use through the curfew period, was hit by a stray bullet fired by soldiers implementing the lockdown. He died afterwards in the hospital.
Weeping in the midst of her children and sympathizers, Mrs. Nkwocha told Ubuntu Times her biggest worry was how to raise their four children. “I’m finished. I can’t bear it alone,” she said.
With access restored to the area after weeks of a punishing curfew which the government said was aimed at checking the activities of IPOB, a group that seeks an independent state of Biafra, the extent of the bloody raid has become clearer and residents have narrated their ordeal at the hands of security agents.
All the residents selected at random and interviewed separately said soldiers searched for members of IPOB and shot indiscriminately and killed people in an apparent reprisal for the killing of soldiers. At least 20 people would have died in the raid, they said.
The army said its troops “acted professionally” and denied attacking residents. The spokesperson for 6 Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Major Charles Ekeocha, said the army only entered houses that were possible hideouts for hoodlums, according to the Guardian newspaper.
Facing criticisms, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state denied ordering soldiers to kill residents in the community, but insisted he will “not fold my arms and watch criminals destroy my state.”
Protests and Rampage
The Oyigbo incident has become the latest bloody incident involving troops in the aftermath of the campaign against police brutality in Nigeria. The #EndSARS protests lasted weeks seeking the dissolution of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad. The protests found appeal with the country’s large population of unemployed youths and university students forced to stay at home due to lecturers’ strike.
Burnt trucks residents say were military pickups razed by hoodlums. Credit: Ubuntu Times
As the protests became a rallying point for many, authorities claimed groups with sectional interests tried to exploit the campaigns for underhand motives. The demonstrations culminated on October 20 when soldiers opened fire on protesters at the Lekki Tollgate in the commercial capital, Lagos, killing at least 12, according to Amnesty International.
The turmoil that followed the shooting left the country in shock. Thugs set fire to public and private properties in Lagos and other cities and attacked security personnel. In Oyigbo, the government said IPOB, which has tried to revive the defunct 1960s-era Biafra Republic, went on a rampage and razed police offices and killed officers.
The Police Area Command Oyigbo set on fire by hoodlums before attacks by soldiers. Credit: Ubuntu Times
An intervention by the army was thwarted as a patrol team sent from a nearby military base was overrun. Six soldiers and four police officers died.
“Since its proscription, the group has carried out intermittent processions in parts of Rivers State, especially in Oyigbo and some notorious suburbs in Port Harcourt Local Government Areas,” Gov Wike said in a broadcast on October 30 referring to IPOB.
“This evil, wicked and audacious action resulted in the unnecessary loss of scores of lives, including soldiers and police officers, and the destruction of both public and private properties, including police stations, court buildings and business premises.”
In interviews, residents said hoodlums also raided a courthouse and vandalized shops. Looting subsided after police and soldiers were dispatched to the area and a 24-hour curfew imposed. The attack soon degenerated to a confrontation between the thugs and soldiers, leading to the killing of soldiers, according to witnesses.
Killing the Innocent
That was the trigger of the siege. Residents said the army deployed more troops, who without systematically going after the attackers who by this time had fled the area, descended on unarmed residents.
Locals said at least 200 soldiers were deployed to cordon the bubbling district. They arrived in armored vehicles and went house to house and picked young men and loaded them into their trucks and took them to their base in Obehie in neighboring Abia State. Those who resisted were shot, according to witnesses.
Most residents refused to give their names or allow to be quoted over safety concerns. One elderly man told Ubuntu Times how a group of young men chased by soldiers around the Kom-Kom area ran into the Imo River swamp having reached the end of the road. He said soldiers fired into the water, killing the fleeing men.
At Afam Road roundabout, Ubuntu Times saw a burnt Volvo wagon car which residents said was used as an ambulance to convey a corpse to the mortuary when it ran into soldiers. They said after the driver explained his mission to the soldiers, he was chased off and the vehicle set ablaze.
Residents said soldiers killed several young people and their bodies taken away. Most of those detained and taken to the military based were yet to be released when an Ubuntu Times reporter visited the area.
Monica Chikwem, a resident of the area, narrated how her pastor’s son, a mechanical engineering graduate who recently got a job, was killed by a stray bullet. She said his body was left at home for two days since there was no way to move his body to the mortuary due to the soldiers’ blockade of all entry and exit points. The body was eventually smuggled to the mortuary through a bush path.
Chikwem said for 10 days, they lived in constant fear as bullets fired by soldiers fell occasionally on their roof. With total curfew in place, they had nowhere to buy food and other consumables and survived on eating premature crops nearby.
Another resident, John Nworgu, narrated how bullets pierced through his son’s leg who was trying to go through a back road to buy food for the family. Nworgu’s son survived.
During a recent visit to Oyigbo after the siege was lifted, one of the most talked about deaths was that of Queen Nwazuo, a 26-year-old polytechnic student, who was struck in the neck while at a hair salon. Nwazuo died before she could get medical assistance.
A poster showing a fatal injury on Queen Nwazuo, one of the persons struck by a stray bullet fired by soldiers. Credit: @OgbonnayaMbaka on Twitter
An Ubuntu Times reporter said almost all the homes he entered and people approached for interviews had tales of woes about the siege and accused the army of highhandedness.
On November 3, the Guardian, one of the country’s most respected and popular newspapers, reported how its reporter visited a house in Oyigbo and saw four soldiers knocking hysterically on a gate to a building. The soldiers screamed: “If you don’t come out and open the gate, we will burn the building and kill you and nothing will happen,” according to the paper.
When one of the residents finally opened the gate, the troops ordered her to call out everyone in the compound and as residents gathered, one soldier yelled: “The army is very angry with this community because your people killed our colleagues, we are here to search for certain persons and you should obey everything we say, anyone that argues or disobeys, we will kill the person.” However, after a search of the compound, the paper said officers left, saying: “Our target person is not here”.
Ethnic Concerns
Residents interviewed by Ubuntu Times said they suspected the military operation had an ethnic undertone, claiming that soldiers had asked some men they arrested if they were Igbo. The claim, not independently verified, appeared to draw strength from comments by the governor and historical sentiments.
A place of worship, synagogue, razed and destroyed by soldiers in Oyigbo. Credit: Ubuntu Times
In his broadcast, Wike said “Rivers State belongs to the indigenous people of Rivers State” and warned that “as a stranger element with strange political ideology therefore, IPOB has no legal or moral right to invade Rivers State or any part therefore at its behest; to disturb public peace, and subject lives and property to violence or threat of destruction under any guise.” He added: “We appeal to leaders of the various ethnic groups residents in the State to ensure that their members respect the sensibilities of our people and refrain from provocations and acts of hooliganism that could breach peace and security in the State.”
The group, IPOB, is predominantly Igbo, and the Rivers government said the group has used Oyigbo, which has a large Igbo population, as an outpost. The first attempt to create Biafra from Nigeria in the 1960s resulted in a civil war that killed over a million people. Since then, the Nigerian state has brutally crushed groups that align with that cause, often killing many.
Over years too, non-Igbo groups in the region have rejected the agitation for Biafra, and some Igbo cluster tribal groups have even denied having the same tribal roots with the Igbo, despite apparent linguistic ties. Some Igbo activists say the town raided by the soldiers, originally called Obigbo (meaning the heart of Igbo) was renamed Oyigbo in the early 1980s to spite the group.
In the chaos that unfolded in Oyigbo, some of the buildings reportedly razed by troops were synagogues assumed to be the worship place of IPOB members. The IPOB group has identified as Jewish and its members worship in synagogues, noticeably varied from the predominant practice of Christianity in the area. One synagogue was razed by troops near the timber market and another at Okpulor was demolished on November 9. But those interviewed said the synagogues were open for all persons especially the Sabbatarians, beyond IPOB.
Authorities Deny
Amidst criticisms following the attack, Gov Wike denied ordering soldiers to kill Igbo in the town. Speaking on television on November 2, the governor said the accusation was “politically-motivated.”
“It’s not true that I ordered the military to kill Igbo in Oyigbo. So, what about the Igbo living elsewhere in the state? Are they also being killed?” He added: “I will not fold my arms and watch criminals destroy my state, if those few criminals are Igbos then they should know that I will not allow them.”
Wike, however, said security agencies during their search of some residents in Oyigbo, saw shrines with IPOB flags and a picture of the group’s leader, Nnamdi Kanu.
Usually busy streets of Oyigbo remain scanty weeks after a deadly assault by soldiers killed many in the town. Credit: Ubuntu Times
The army also denied targeting a particular group. It also denied killing residents, even when the evidence shows the contrary. The spokesperson for Six Division of the Nigerian Army in Port Harcourt, Major Charles Ekeocha, said the army only entered houses that were possible hideouts of “hoodlums”.
“We lost six soldiers in that area, their weapons were carted away, it was planned and executed,” he was quoted by Guardian as saying. “The exercise going on there now is searching and identifying houses used by the so-called IPOB members. We are searching those houses to see whether we can get all those rifles they took away from our soldiers, that is what we are doing, we are professional about it. I don’t know about firing of weapons.”
Usually busy streets of Oyigbo remain scanty weeks after a deadly assault by soldiers killed many in the town. Credit: Ubuntu Times
On November 18, the king of Oyigbo, Mike Nwaji, urged the governor and the military authorities to caution soldiers against the indiscriminate arrests of residents in the area, according to the Lagos-based newspaper, Punch.
“Even if the person is a member of IPOB, I overheard the governor said that the activities of IPOB in Rivers State has been proscribed. I didn’t hear the governor say search them from house to house, but the governor said their activities, meetings, gatherings.
“So, any person going round and telling soldiers to come and see IPOB (should stop); the main people who committed the offense had all run away.”
October 22 — Nigerians hoping for some contrition from their government were left fuming as President Muhammadu Buhari delivered an address to the nation that did not acknowledge the shooting of unarmed protesters in some of its cities.
While he said he was “deeply pained that innocent lives have been lost” in the Thursday evening address, there was no mention of what has been tagged Black Tuesday; a day defined by the killing of peaceful demonstrators at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos by security forces.
Human Rights group Amnesty International said the security forces killed at least 12 people in Lagos on Tuesday.
Some local media reported that close to 50 protestors were killed nationwide on Tuesday.
In what could be considered a slap in the face of victims of Black Tuesday, President Buhari made time to mourn “officers of the Nigeria Police Force who have tragically lost their lives in the line of duty.”
Despite the evidence and reports, President Buhari instead pointed fingers at persons he said had “hijacked and misdirected” the protest movement against police brutality.
His address was also littered with insinuations that the protests were being overcome by bad actors and that they were not operating “within the law.”
“So-called protesters have invaded an International Airport and in the process disrupted the travel plans of fellow Nigerians and our visitors,” he noted as an example.
“Certainly, there is no way whatsoever to connect these bad acts to legitimate expression of grievance of the youth of our country.”
President Buhari further demonstrated some concern for Nigeria’s reputation abroad warning of “deliberate falsehood and misinformation through the social media” purportedly meant to mislead international observers.
“To our neighbors in particular, and members of the international community, many of whom have expressed concern about the ongoing development in Nigeria, we thank you and urge you all to seek to know all the facts available before taking a position or rushing to judgment and making hasty pronouncements,” he urged.
President Buhari’s address then pivoted onto a more political lane where he touched on some policies and interventions his government had put in place including a “broad plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.”
He thus urged angry citizens to “discontinue the street protests and constructively engage government in finding solutions.”
“I would like to appeal to protesters to note and take advantage of the various well-thought-out initiatives of this administration designed to make their lives better and more meaningful, and resist the temptation of being used by some subversive elements to cause chaos with the aim of truncating our nascent democracy.”
The speech was met with scorn from some Nigerians on Twitter, where the #EndSars hashtag has been the rallying cry for protestors.
For some, it was a reminder that Nigerians continue their resolve for change.
if they can’t stop us Physically, they will stop you emotionally.
With the horrorful videos and pictures coming out from Nigeria and the Speech of Buhari.
It’s enough to weaken our spirit.
Please don’t give up
I thought we all agreed to be Protesting from home? Abeg 🙏 #EndSARS
Reports on gunfire in urban areas and jailbreaks followed the Tuesday evening shooting of protesters in Lagos.
Lagos and other parts of Nigeria saw buildings set on fire and shops looted since the shooting.
This is despite the Lagos state government imposing an indefinite round-the-clock curfew on its about-15 million inhabitants.
The protests began about two weeks ago with angry youth demanding the disbandment of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
SARS was eventually dissolved on 11 October but that shifted the protestor’s attention to widespread reforms in the security apparatus. Others have called for President Buhari to resign.
Black Tuesday prompted global calls for the Nigerian government to end the violence and investigate Tuesday’s events.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said reports that lights were turned off and CCTV cameras removed at the Lekki Toll Plaza before the shootings suggested it was “premeditated, planned and coordinated”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for an end to police brutality in Nigeria following two weeks of citizen protests.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, he condemned “the violent escalation on 20 October in Lagos which resulted in multiple deaths and caused many injuries.”
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief also condemned the killing of protesters demonstrating against police brutality.
“It is alarming to learn that several people have been killed and injured during the ongoing protests against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Nigeria,” he said.
Statements from major regional bodies have however lacked bite and have been criticized as dishonest because of their framing of the protests as being violent.
While ECOWAS urged security agencies in Nigeria to act professionally, it also called on “all protestors to remain peaceful in the conduct of their demonstrations.”
In a statement on Thursday, the AU chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat, “strongly” condemned the violence, appealing “to all political and social actors to reject the use of violence and respect human rights and the rule of law.”
Nigerian security forces opened fire late Tuesday on hundreds of demonstrators who had gathered in the country’s commercial center of Lagos, killing an unspecified number of people and leaving many injured.
Witnesses said soldiers fired live rounds under the cover of darkness at the Lekki toll gate, an upscale area of the city, just hours after the Lagos authorities imposed a 24-hour curfew to try to douse tension following two weeks of demonstrations demanding extensive police reforms.
A popular disc jockey, DJ Switch, who live-streamed the attack on Instagram, said seven people died. Some reports said more people died in the attack that has trended on social media as #LekkiMassacre and #LekkiGenocide.
“For 12 days, our young kept peacefully and intelligently asking @MBuhari
to #EndSARS. The best response he could give was ask the @HQNigerianArmy
to kill as many of them as possible in #LekkiGenocide,” former education minister and World Bank executive, Oby Ezekwesili, wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos promised an investigation and blamed the attack on “forces beyond my direct control”, an indication the directive for the raid came from the federal government, which controls the police and the military.
“For clarity, it is imperative to explain that no sitting governor controls the rules of engagement of the military. I have, nonetheless, ordered an investigation into the rules of engagement adopted by men of the Nigerian Army that were deployed to the Lekki toll gate last night,” the governor said.
“This is with a view to take this up with higher commands of the Nigerian Army and to seek the intervention of Mr. President in his capacity as the Commander-In-Chief to unravel the sequence of events that happened yesterday (Tuesday) night.”
Videos and pictures posted online show horrified protesters fleeing as soldiers fired live bullets towards the crowds. One footage showed victims trying to remove shrapnel from injured protesters.
The attack followed weeks of rare mass protests in a country that has endured two decades of democratic governance following decades of military dictatorship.
President Muhammadu Buhari came to power in 2015 and won re-election in 2019 on the promise to fight insecurity and corruption, but many citizens say the president has become aloof to the demands of citizens who voted for him. Mr. Buhari is yet to address the nation since the protests began.
The demonstrations started with demands for the disbandment of a notorious police unit, Special Anti-Robbery Squad, or SARS, accused of rampant abuse of human rights, extortion, and unlawful killings. The government acceded after days of protests and named a new tactical unit, SWAT, modeled after the United States’ special weapons and tactics squad.
The mostly young protesters, however, have insisted on wider reforms, and more tangible actions such as the prosecution of police operatives who violated the rights of citizens and have demanded the payment of compensation to victims. They argue that previous promises by governments to reform the police were never actualized.
The demonstrations have taken place in several cities across the country, but have taken hold in Lagos and the capital, Abuja, and at least 12 people were killed either by the police or pro-government thugs before the Tuesday attack, local media reported.
The Nigerian army had last week warned it was ready to step in against “subversive elements and troublemakers”, and vowed to defend the country’s democracy “at all cost”. On Saturday, the army announced the launch of “operation crocodile smile” nationwide, saying it was targeting criminals. But the move raised concerns the government was planning to clamp down on the protests.
After curfew was announced in Lagos and several other cities across the country on Tuesday, protesters reported seeing unknown people removing CCTV cameras from the Lekki area where protesters had camped for the last two weeks. They said as night fell, street light in the area was cut before soldiers arrived and started shooting.
EndSARS protesters reported seeing unknown agents removing CCTV cameras from the Lekki tollgate vicinity before soldiers arrived and started shooting at demonstrators. Credit: EndSARS Protester(s)
The killings on Tuesday have horrified the country and drawn international condemnations.
Joe Biden, the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate, urged “President Buhari and the Nigerian military to cease the violent crackdown on protesters in Nigeria, which has already resulted in several deaths.”
Biden said the U.S. must stand with Nigerians “who are peacefully demonstrating for police reform and seeking an end to corruption in their democracy.”
Former U.S. secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, called on Mr. Buhari and the army to stop attacking protesters.
The United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, reiterated the UN’s call for maximum restraint in security forces’ response to the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria.
“The UN and I are following the protests in Nigeria calling for an end to human rights violations.
“I join the UN Secretary-General in stressing the importance of respect for peaceful protests and freedom of assembly, and call on the security forces to exercise maximum restraint,” she said on Twitter on Tuesday night.
The military has not commented on the incident, beyond tagging news posts on Twitter of the attacks as “fake news”.
Chaos escalated across Lagos on Wednesday with several properties belonging to the government or prominent individuals looted or torched. The palace of the traditional ruler, the Oba of Lagos, seen as a pro-government figure, was vandalized. A facility of the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Federal Road Safety Corps were also set on fire.
In response, the government deployed police and the military to patrol the streets, largely deserted by residents. Flights into and out of Lagos have been canceled.
May 30 — On Wednesday, May 25th, four police officers detained a black man by the name George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States of America.
After the video went viral, all four officers involved were merely fired on May 26 which precipitated public uproar and massive protests.
Chauvin whose knee chiefly snuffed out life from George Floyd was initially charged with third-degree murder on Friday, May 29th. After the result of an independent autopsy ordered by George’s family arrived, the cause of his death was identified as mechanical asphyxia making it a homicide.
Following this revelation, on Wednesday, June 3rd, the three ex-officers, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane, and J. Alexander were charged with aiding and abetting murder based on the criminal complaint filing initiated by the state of Minnesota. Derek Chauvin’s charge was also elevated from third-degree to second-degree murder.
This is just one of the many incidences of police brutality, especially in the US against black people that have always been a subject of controversy. But in all these incidences, African leaders have always muted when even their own nationals face atrocities in western countries. To put things into perspective, many African leaders have put their nations in debt and paying allegiance for foreign aid.
While pinned down by his neck with a knee, Floyd pleaded for his life from the police officer shouting that he couldn’t breathe. He was pronounced dead a few minutes later at a hospital in Minneapolis.
While condemning the killing on Thursday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday condemned the killing of George Floyd, an African American man whose death in police custody on Monday was captured on video and has led to serious ongoing protests in Minneapolis.
“This is the latest in a long line of killings of unarmed African Americans by US police officers and members of the public,” Bachelet said. “I am dismayed to have to add George Floyd’s name to that of Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and many other unarmed African Americans who have died over the years at the hands of the police — as well as people such as Ahmaud Arbery and Trayvon Martin who were killed by armed members of the public,” Bachelet said.
“I welcome the fact that the Federal authorities have announced that an investigation will be prioritized,” she said. “But in too many cases in the past, such investigations have led to killings being deemed justified on questionable grounds, or only being addressed by administrative measures.”
This is another classic case as that of Stinney Jr, a black teenage boy who was executed in 1944, accused of killing two white girls in Alcolu, South Carolina. He was later charged and, in a ten-minute jury decision, Stinney was executed by a 2,400-volt surge in an electric chair. 70 years later in 2014, he was found not guilty by a US court. He remains the youngest person to be executed in the US.
A youth kneels down in front of law enforcement officers during a past protest in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times
Protests have been witnessed in many parts of the United States, mainly in Minneapolis where the killing took place.
Of major concern now is that African leaders and elitists have kept their cool about these killings, not any one of them has come out to condemn the killings and illegal executions of African Americans, not just in the United States of America but elsewhere in the West.
This perhaps is because of the underlying reason for years that African countries have never been really free from their oppressors, always depending on them for foreign aid.
Many countries in Africa have seen police brutality and extrajudicial killings in their day-to-day lives. In Kenya for example, most electioneering periods have witnessed several killings by police, including even the killing of innocent youth, mostly in the slums for “being jobless.” Children have not been spared, too, and the most classic example is the killing of baby Samantha Pendo, a six-month-old baby who was hit and killed by baton-wielding policemen who had laid siege at the baby’s parents at midnight during protests in Kenya’s Kisumu County in August 2017 after President Kenyatta was announced the winner of the last general elections.
With coronavirus disease restrictions being tasked with the police to carry them out, they killed more people than the virus at the time. According to a report by Human Rights Watch last month, “at least six people died from police violence during the first 10 days of Kenya’s dusk-to-dawn curfew, imposed on March 27, 2020 to contain the spread of Covid-19.”
Protesters have been ordered to sit down by the police as members of the press look on during a past protest in Nairobi. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times
On Monday, the police in Nairobi’s Mathare slums shot and killed a homeless man who lived in the streets, accusing him of breaking the curfew rules. There have been protests in the slum and also online under the hashtag #JusticeForVaite. In the neighboring Huruma slums, police also shot a 13-year-old boy who was playing on their house balcony when a police officer fired a bullet that hit him in the stomach and killed him.
In Central Africa, even bodies like the UN have been accused of killing civilians. Cameroon has also been a place for police killing civilians, as well as Nigeria, South Africa, and many other African countries.
But even in all these, African leaders have kept mum and rarely condemned the killings and ordered investigations and due justice. As in the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, their silence on the matter has been too loud.
Police officer approaches a protester as the protester kneels down to surrender during a past protest in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times
On Friday, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, through his spokesperson Ebba Kalondo issued a statement condemning the killings.
“Recalling the historic Organization of Africa Unity (OAU) Resolution on Racial Discrimination in the United States of America made by African Heads of State and Government, at the OAU’s First Assembly Meeting held in Cairo, Egypt from 17 to 24 July 1964, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission firmly reaffirms and reiterates the African Union’s rejection of the continuing discriminatory practices against Black citizens of the United States of America,” the statement read.
But the question of AU leadership and its ability to represent the interests and views of Africa as a whole has always been posed, leaving a lot unanswered.
Its biggest critic, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party in South Africa. It is a Pan-Africanist political party with very strong views on the African continent and its freedom from the West. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League President Julius Malema, and his allies, in 2013.
Police officers stand guard as they wait for protesters in Nairobi during a past protest. Credit: Dominic Kirui / Ubuntu Times
Malema is on the record criticizing the AU saying that it is just a club of old people who don’t care. “It’s a group of old people who are protecting each other; they don’t protect the interests of their people. It’s a club; it’s a gentlemen club, they don’t care, they don’t call each other out. And the way out is that the youth must take politics seriously,” he says in a video from last year that has made rounds on social media.
The same day on Friday, Human rights Watch released a 66-page report calling on the U.S government to provide reparations to the survivors and descendants of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
The massacre, said to have lasted for only 24 hours on May 31, 1921, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and is said to be one of the most severe incidents of racial violence in U.S. history and is believed to have left somewhere between 30 and 300 people dead, mostly African Americans, even though the exact number remains unknown. It destroyed Tulsa’s prosperous Black neighborhood of Greenwood, known then as the “Black Wall Street.”
“A search for mass graves, only undertaken in recent years, has been put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Those who survived lost their homes, businesses, and livelihoods. Property damage claims from the massacre alone amount to tens of millions in today’s dollars. The massacre’s devastating toll, in terms of lives lost and harms in various ways, can never be fully repaired,” part of the report reads.
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