{"id":31445,"date":"2020-10-21T18:10:08","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T18:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/nigeria\/?p=31445"},"modified":"2020-10-21T18:10:08","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T18:10:08","slug":"why-nigeria-is-now-erupting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting","title":{"rendered":"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>police agency, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad \u2014 a show of popular anger, fueled by longstanding grievances over corruption and lack of accountability, that posed the biggest challenge to the government in years.<\/p>\n<p>The demonstrations took a deadly turn this week, as soldiers fired on crowds of protesters, inflaming Nigerians who were already concerned about police use of violence against the demonstrators.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the basics of what is behind the protests and what they could mean for Nigeria, which at 206 million people is Africa\u2019s most populous nation, its largest oil producer and an epicenter of the continent\u2019s economic, political and cultural trends.<\/p>\n<p>What is SARS?<br \/>\nCommonly known as SARS, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad was created in 1984 in response to an epidemic of violent crime including robberies, carjackings and kidnappings. While it was credited with having reduced brazen lawlessness in its initial years, the police unit was later accused of evolving into the same problem it had been designed to stop: a criminal enterprise that acts with impunity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">In June, Amnesty International\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2020\/06\/nigeria-horrific-reign-of-impunity-by-sars-makes-mockery-of-anti-torture-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">issued a report<\/a>\u00a0that it said had documented at least 82 cases of torture, ill-treatment and extrajudicial executions by SARS officers between January 2017 and May 2020. The victims, Amnesty said, were predominantly men aged 18 to 25, from low-income backgrounds and vulnerable groups. The Nigerian government\u2019s failure to address this problem, Amnesty said, showed \u201can absolute disregard for international human rights laws and standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-158dogj evys1bk0\">The critics include Fulani Kwajafa, the former police commissioner who founded SARS. In an\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-54567419\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interview with the BBC<\/a>, he disavowed what it had become, saying the unit had been \u201cturned into banditry.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-16l7vy9\" data-testid=\"inline-message\">\n<div>\n<p>Why did anti-SARS demonstrations erupt in recent weeks?<br \/>\nThe catalyst seemed to be an Oct. 3 video that appeared to show the unprovoked killing of a man by black-clad SARS officers in Ughelli, a town in southern Delta state. Nigerian officials said the video, which was widely shared over social media, was fake and arrested the person who took it \u2014 inciting even more anger.<\/p>\n<p>Demonstrations erupted in Lagos, the nation\u2019s biggest city, and elsewhere around the country, driven by calls from people \u2014 many of them young \u2014 demanding that the government dismantle SARS.<\/p>\n<p>Editors\u2019 Picks<br \/>\nKeith Jarrett Confronts a Future Without the Piano<br \/>\nDespite Everything, People Still Have Weddings at \u2018Plantation\u2019 Sites<br \/>\nSix Enormous Hot-Dog-Shaped Vehicles Travel America, Spreading Only Brand Awareness and Joy<br \/>\nContinue reading the main story<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Continue reading the main story<\/p>\n<p>The decentralized movement has coalesced on social media, where people are using the hashtag #EndSARS and sharing images of police brutality. The hashtag has spread internationally, with prominent actors and sports figures from across Africa to Europe and the United States sharing the posts.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>police agency, the Special Anti-Robbery Squad \u2014 a show of popular anger, fueled by longstanding grievances over corruption and lack of accountability, that posed the biggest challenge to the government in years. The demonstrations took a deadly turn this week, as soldiers fired on crowds of protesters, inflaming Nigerians who were already concerned about police [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":31446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1437],"tags":[1281,1545],"class_list":["post-31445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-nigeria-police-force","tag-sars"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Africa Press-Nigeria:Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been demonstrating for weeks against a notoriously brutal and corrupt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa Press-Nigeria:Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been demonstrating for weeks against a notoriously brutal and corrupt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-21T18:10:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"alico\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"alico\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\"},\"headline\":\"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-21T18:10:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting\"},\"wordCount\":449,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria Police Force\",\"SARS\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting\",\"name\":\"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-21T18:10:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\"},\"description\":\"Africa Press-Nigeria:Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been demonstrating for weeks against a notoriously brutal and corrupt\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7\",\"name\":\"alico\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/alico\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting - Nigeria","description":"Africa Press-Nigeria:Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been demonstrating for weeks against a notoriously brutal and corrupt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting","og_description":"Africa Press-Nigeria:Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been demonstrating for weeks against a notoriously brutal and corrupt","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2020-10-21T18:10:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"alico","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"alico","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting"},"author":{"name":"alico","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7"},"headline":"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting","datePublished":"2020-10-21T18:10:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting"},"wordCount":449,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg","keywords":["Nigeria Police Force","SARS"],"articleSection":["all news","files"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting","name":"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg","datePublished":"2020-10-21T18:10:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7"},"description":"Africa Press-Nigeria:Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been demonstrating for weeks against a notoriously brutal and corrupt","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2020\/10\/merlin_178787511_ed48a305-b88c-423f-ada8-2a9b33d61ef3-jumbo.jpg","width":1024,"height":683},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/why-nigeria-is-now-erupting#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Nigeria Is Now Erupting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/50afd2ef4f0e900bd0a176404a8484a7","name":"alico","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/alico"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}