ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to examine the correlation between end sars protest and police legitimacy in Nigeria. Various concepts regarding end sars and police legitimacy in Nigeria were discussed on the chapter two of this study. The study made use of primary data which are gotten from the distribution of the research questionnaires; the sample size for the study is 40. The study made use of the Pearson correlation method for the analysis. The study therefore concluded that there is a statistically significantly (0.00) strong relationship (0.819) between the responses of the respondents that said that there is significant relationship between military involvement in the nationwide end-sars protest and civil right violation in Nigeria and those that said that high level of extortion of funds from the youths by the SARS officials lead to poor police legitimacy in Nigeria. The study also made useful recommendation to assist the federal government in decision making
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The police also profile and dehumanize ordinary citizens who they see as criminals simply because they belong to certain groups (e.g., musicians, footballers and those in possession of modern gadgets like phones and cars) (Amuta, 2020). Amid these atrocities, there has been a public outcry against the excesses of police on social media, and by 2017, there was an online protest where about 28 million individuals from home and in the diaspora tweeted with the hashtag #ENDSARS to demand the disbanding of the unit of the police known as Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS), which is notorious for its brutality against the people.
Nigerian youths embarked on peaceful protest tagged #EndSARS to demand the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit, as well as, other reforms in the Nigerian Police Force (NPF). What started out as a peaceful demonstration by thousands of youths, degenerated into chaos after the protests were hijacked by hoodlums.
The EndSARS protest is equally contextualized within the deteriorating material conditions of life in Nigeria owing to how the government responded to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nigeria confirmed its first positive case of Covid19 in February 2020 and responded to the global lockdown, which started from Abuja, without adequate social provisions. There was an announcement of palliatives, but it was characterized by outright lopsidedness and deliberate mismanagement such that most of the vulnerable people were shortchanged (Eranga, 2020). It is not difficult to imagine the negative impacts of illtreatment on the people, given that the Nigerian economy thrives in the informal sector. By the time the news filtered that the SARS had brutalized an individual in Ugheli, Delta State, people began to unleash their anger on the police on social media. As the protest started, many other young Nigerians, especially those from the tech-oriented community, musicians, and other celebrities, shared their own ugly, lamentable experiences from SARS on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
The protesters demanded the abolition of SARS, immediate release of all arrested protesters, provisions of appropriate compensation for the families of the victims of police brutality, the establishment of an independent panel of inquiry on police brutality both at the federal and state levels and increasing the salary of police officers. The federal government swiftly had a meeting with the leadership of the National Assembly, the police and the Human Rights Commission and resolved to dissolve, with immediate effect, the notorious police unit and replace it with Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT).
The massacre at Lekki punctuated more than two weeks of protest of police brutality in Nigeria. The hash tag #EndSARS began trending (again) on social media on Oct. 4. The immediate trigger was a video that showed a SARS officer shooting a young motorist in Ughelli, in Delta state, then pushing his body out of the car and driving off with the dead man’s Lexus SUV. Within days, crowds of young people gathered in Nigerian cities to demand the abolition of SARS. This year’s protests follow on previous activism and government announcements that SARS would be demobilized in 2014, 2015 and 2017. And yet, SARS officers continued to act with impunity, committing armed robberies, rapes, other acts of torture and extrajudicial killings like the one in Delta State. On Oct. 11, leaders announced that SARS would be disbanded, but crowds of protesters grew bigger—even in the face of violence and intimidation. Since the protests began, estimates are that at least 100 individuals have allegedly lost their lives; 48 of whom were killed on Black Tuesday alone. Black Tuesday is the latest in a long history of police and military campaigns in Nigeria against the civilian population. For half of the republic’s 60-year history and for the century of colonial rule before independence, there have been quasi-military police forces and outright military police charged with repressing dissent from the civilian population. The history of Nigeria’s police abuses helps us see the continuities in the misuse of state power against citizens might have effect of policy legitimacy in Nigeria. It is unknown whether adolescents see police as legitimate and worthy of being deferred to. It is also unclear what characterises the perceptions of young people when they have contact with police officers in Nigeria. Given the different policing environment in a country like Nigeria it is important to examine whether findings in the West can be generalised to a Nigerian context. This is the focus of this research paper is to evaluate end sars protest and police legitimacy in Nigeria.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The prevalence of human right violation in democratic Nigeria by so many governmental agencies casts doubt on the facility of real democratic practice in Nigeria. Respect for human rights enriches democracy and makes it the best option among many others. The Nigerian democracy is stripped of its one of its beauties, (upholding human of rights), by the rulers and their cohorts. Citizens are now restricted from having peaceful protests on the streets, at worst cases the youths face serious police brutality. The rate of brutality by Nigeria police has made most of the Nigerian citizen especially the youth to have low level of trust for government officials and security agencies in Nigeria especially the police. These government officials see themselves as above the law and have no regards for due process and rule of law. The immunity clause in the 1999 Nigerian constitution is an aberration of real democratic practice. People should be answerable for both their actions and inactions immediately and not after vacating offices.
The Nigeria Police is seen as an autonomous social institution unconnected with the socio-historical processes in the Nigerian society; whereas so much interest is shown in the products and consequences of police work, so little is known about how that work evolved. However, lack of knowledge has not prevented people from speculating about the subject or from making recommendations about how police work should be improved, even though those proposals are so vague and general that policemen, if they were motivated to change their behavior, would find little guidance about what they should do to meet the expectations of these ‘experts’. Consequently, unsupported inferences about the policing process have passed imperceptibly into our conceptions of the police role and function, and proposals for change have taken the form of general statements about what the police ought to be doing, which are often superficial glosses on a complex problem. In Nigeria there seems to be a strong feeling among academics on the one hand and police administrators and policy makers, on the other hand, that the inefficiency and ineffectiveness prevalent in the Nigeria Police stem from the application of inappropriate philosophies, policies and practices (Odekunle, 1978:86-94, 1979:61-83; Tamumo, 1970, 1985; Okonkwo, 1966). The police force can only function when its members do not wittingly transgress the values and norms they are employed to uphold and protect. This might represent the most desirable starting point for an orientational restructuring of the Nigeria Police. It is to this regard that the study is based on end sars protest and police legitimacy in Nigeria
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study seeks to examine end sars protest and police public legitimacy in Nigeria. The objectives of the study are:
- To identify the cause of endsars protest in Nigeria
- To determine the relationship between endsars protest and police public legitimacy in Nigeria
- To find out the reason for low police public legitimacy in Nigeria
- To analyse the effect of endsars protest and the disbandment of sars in Nigeria
- To proffers solution in enhancing police public legitimacy
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions were formed to ascertain the objectives of the study:
- What are the causes of endsars protest in Nigeria?
- What is the relationship between endsars protest and police public legitimacy in Nigeria?
- What are the reasons for low police public legitimacy in Nigeria?
- What is the effect of endsars protest and the disbandment of sars in Nigeria?
- What are the ways to enhance police public legitimacy?
1.5 STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS
H01: there is no significant relationship between endsars protest and police public legitimacy in Nigeria
H02: police public legitimacy in Nigeria is low
H03: High level of extortion of funds from the youths by the SARS officials does not lead to poor police legitimacy in Nigeria
H04: using the hash tag #ENDSARS does not increase the level of awareness on policy brutality in Nigeria
H05: police brutality has not increase overtime in Nigeria
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study on end sars protest and police legitimacy in Nigeria will be of immense help to the general public, the Nigerian government and the Nigerian police as regard the reasons for low or poor police legitimacy during the endsars protest in Nigeria. The study findings of the study will also establish a correlation between relationship between endsars protest and police legitimacy in Nigeria. The study will also serve as a source of information to higher institutions and other researchers and contribute to the body of the existing literature on end sars protest and police legitimacy in Nigeria.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study covers on end sars protest and police legitimacy in Nigeria from October 2020-till date.
1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
TIME CONSTRAINTS: One the challenges experienced by the researcher is the issue of time; the research will simultaneously engage in departmental activities like seminars and attendance to lectures. But the researcher was able to meet up with the deadline for the submission of the project.
FINANCIAL CONSTRAINTS: Every research work needs funding; however lack of adequate funds might affect the speed of the researcher in getting materials for completion of the project
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
POLITICAL PROTEST: Political protest consists of a multitude of methods used by individuals and groups within a political system to express dissatisfaction with the status quo
HUMAN RIGHT: Human rights are moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected in municipal and international law
SARS: The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was a Nigerian Police Force unit created in late 1992 to deal with crimes associated with robbery, motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and firearms.
POLICE LEGITIMACY: Police legitimacy is the extent to which members of the public view the police as legitimate, often measured in terms of the public's willingness to obey and cooperate with the police. Police legitimacy is linked to the degree of public support for, and cooperation with, the police's efforts to fight crime
