As I said earlier, SARS was constituted for the right reasons. It's a special anti-robbery squad in response to issues of robbery in Nigeria. However, the SARS men and women are poorly paid and poorly trained. When they get out there, there's a tendency to take issue against the people they're supposed to serve and protect.
Adding this to the other societal issues that are happening in the country, the youth, the young people of Nigeria, had to come together to press for systemic change. Although it's named #EndSARS, the push is for a complete systemic change and to press for good governance whereby life expectancy can be improved and people can conduct business safely, without being harassed, without being killed in the streets, without being robbed.
The overall essence of #EndSARS was to push for systemic change. This was done not only by young men or young women but all young people of Nigeria. It was a collective effort by everyone coming together to push for change. Unfortunately, what we have seen and experienced in Nigeria is repression, to repress that push for change and good governance.
The government has come with an iron fist to squash that request. Unfortunately, the government has currently also gone into overdrive and is making it a public campaign about whether people were shot or not.