Metamorphosis: #EndSARS protest leaders adopt strategies away from streets

• Movement leaders to emerge from shadows
• Online democracy drives group’s leadership recruitment
• Device means to counter government propaganda, traditional media bias

AFTER weeks of unrelenting and well-organised protests, which denounced police brutality and other manifestations of bad governance, the #EndSARS protest movement is quietly strategising to make its next bold move.

Protest leaders who spoke to Naija Times remained upbeat that despite the government’s resort to excessive force to shut down the voices of the youths, the group remains resolute to press forward with its goals.

Many analysts have pointed to the fact that the #EndSARS movement shamed the current power elites and undermined the legitimacy of the government in ways, which they (the government) found impossible to handle.

It was gathered that at the height of the protests, top government officials from the Presidency as well as state governors made frantic efforts to locate the leaders of the protest. Reliable sources said that the emissaries of the government who had plans to induce protests leaders were severely disappointed as they could find no one to talk to.

The failed attempts by the government emissaries to find, induce, or blackmail leaders of the protest, said one of the sources,  informed the eventual resort to brutish force to dislodge as exemplified in the shooting of unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll-Gate, and the disruptions in Abuja through subterfuge by infiltrations of the peaceful protests in Abuja and some parts of the north.

Even in the final days of the street protests, close watchers of the movement observed very deft tactical switches by protest leaders as they sought to avoid clashes with security forces, which government had deployed in huge numbers to break up the demonstrations.

Also, the upsurge in the number of attacks by sponsored thugs in the last few days of the street protests necessitated a tactical withdrawal and the exploration of new sets of strategies. Several active protest participants who spoke with Naija Times noted it was expedient for the movement to adopt smarter strategies in order to stay out of harm’s way, while continuing to voice their concerns about the rot in the country’s policing system as well as the absence of good governance.

On how protesters can minimise the risk of being on the streets in the face of the onslaught by the authorities, a protester and Executive Director of the Hip City Innovation Hub, Bassey Bassey said: “The asymmetric nature of the peaceful protest calls for deeper reflection, tactics and change in strategy. So far the youths have demonstrated that they can leverage on technologies for human mobilisations and organising, resource mobilisation, medicare, and online radio for coordination.

“With all that is happening, now more than ever is a time for protesters to leverage on technology to call the president to a live-town hall meeting that will be aired across protest grounds for open negotiations.

“The launched online radio must be decentralised and run in indigenous languages to counter messaging and deradicalise the minds of the miscreants who perhaps cannot think for themselves, and are burdened with religious nuances that do not build their social consciousness to demand accountability from their leaders, especially in those parts of Nigeria where poverty, illiteracy, ignorance and religion has been weaponised to trigger free thinking.”

Bassey called for messaging that promotes the development of self and nation, free thinking in indigenous languages must be pushed out through all digital means sms, voice messages etc. He stressed that the messaging must be such that work on the reasoning of those involved in committing acts of violence against protesters.

“Why are the children of the sponsors not on the street fighting and killing, why are our roads death traps, why are our schools not prioritised, yet all their children are in ivy league schools. Technology must be deployed in such a coordinated manner that certain basic services that the State has failed to provide are catered for in the areas of e-learning, health etc funded by the Nigerian youth. If this succeeds then in 2023 the consciousness of the Nigerian populace would be built up to reject leaders who have no proven track record of impeccable public service or private business,” he said.

INTERESTINGLY, the admonition calling for a new approach in the face of a government coercive machine, which has no qualms about spilling the blood of unarmed citizens, has been heeded by protest organisers. A number of the key voices driving the protests have been emerging from the shadows, and there is an ongoing leadership selection process to equip the movement with leaders to engage the issues precipitated by the initial concessions made by government as a result of the protests.

Naija Times recently sighted an online voting portal hoisted by the Nigerian Coalition of Protest Groups. The portal had a short announcement calling on the public to nominate a team of advisers for the movement.

The announcement read: “Due to the decentralised nature of this movement across the country, we nominate a team with experience in leadership and diplomacy, to assist in advisory and other support. This team will be consulted from time to time within the process. The criteria are people with integrity, people who have a vast experience in national issues, and who have a track record of being pro-young people.”  

With all indicators pointing to possibility of a leadership emerging to guide the struggle, the movement has been utilising technology to drive the process of recruitment of those who would be at the helm. It was gathered that this approach is strategic as the resort to a democratic process aided by online voting would help stave off future attempts to demonise the movement by tagging it as undemocratic.

Subsequently, there have been assurances that use of online votings will equally guarantee the participation of teeming youths, whose overwhelming support of the movement has given it the legitimacy and energy it has had. It is believed that popular participation in decision making and the determination of priorities of the movement will benefit from an inclusive process to be aided by online voting.

As one staunch protest supporter noted, there is a plethora of issues to engage the attention of the movement even in the short term.

“Our collective anger and agony has been felt in the current phase. We must now navigate towards the realisation of bigger goals and higher ideals. The victims of police brutality, whose plight sparked this movement will be eagerly waiting for the next steps to get them justice. Having energised the people with hope, we cannot afford to let them down now,” he said.  

Notwithstanding the momentum on their side, the #EndSARS protesters have also come to the realisation that the struggle is also a clash of narratives. This is even much more apparent in the aftermath of the shooting of unarmed protesters in Lekki. With the government making lame denials, and other revisionists attempting to claim that the shooting never happened, the movement is increasingly seeing the need to communicate clearly and directly about its objectives.

This has led to the protesters accusing some traditional media outlets of parroting government propaganda aimed at discrediting and demonising the movement. This position was made known by the announcer on the #EndSARS online radio, which has been churning out content to inform and galvanise protesters. The presenter who did not identify himself called on supporters of the movement not to be deterred by unverified content being published by traditional media outlets to discredit the protests. 

Naija Times monitoring of programming on the online radio showed a readiness of the #EndSARS to tell its own story and directly pass its message to the public without the filter of traditional media outlets, which have so far not earned the trust of the movement.