Youths from across Ondo State on Wednesday had a memorial procession to mark one year anniversary of the #EndSARS protest.
This is coming one year after #EndSARS protests rocked Ondo State and Nigeria at large.
The protesters who gathered outside the entrance of the Akure city hall walked through Oba-Adeshida road, passing through NEPA roundabout to the Police Command Headquarters, Akure.
Chanting solidarity songs, the youths demanded compensation for the slain protesters one year after the incident.
The protesters who were orderly said the day is special to them.
Addressing Journalists, leader of the protesters, Barrister Tope Temokun said: “The memorial Protest is to honor our slain heroes, to demand that our government must continue to tell us the truth, because our government has been feeding us with lies over the years.
Our coming out today after a year of the protest to end brutality in Nigeria both from the police and the government, is to remind the government that we need only one thing from them and that is the truth.
“We came out on October 20, 2020 to protest against brutality and they told us we were going to get justice, they told us we are going to get the truth and redress and that victims will get compensation but after one year, we are still in the street.
“What we are witnessing today is brutality from government and the police. We have submitted petition to the government of Akeredolu to implement the recommendation of #EndSars panel that was submitted to him to address the grievances of the protesters.
He said the youth are not tired of standing up to challenge all forms of injustice.
“We are also here to remind the Inspector General of Police that his boys are back in the street. They are not after armed robbers, bandits, kidnappers but they are after Nigerian youth.
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“They are back in the street, searching phones and laptops to know whether you are having conversations with someone in abroad. They want you to transfer money from your account to their account. So, we are saying that the brutality has not ended.”
Carrying banners with various inscriptions, they demanded justice for those they claimed were killed during the protest.
Speaking earlier with the Police Public Relations Officer in Ondo State, DSP Funmilayo Odunlami said that the command had deployed its men to all the nooks and crannies of the state to ensure that hoodlums do not hijack any possible protest.
“We will not fold our arms and watch any protest, under whatever guise, to escalate to the level of the last #EndSARS protest but am sure we won’t have a repeat of last year incidence”.
Properties worth millions of Naira were destroyed in Ondo State during the #EndSars protests, including the All Progressives Congress (APC) Secretariat, the Peoples Democratic Party Secretariat, the disbanded SARS office along Oda road, in Akure, the state capital.
In Okitipupa, properties worth millions of Naira were also destroyed while some stores were looted completely.
Ultimately, this led to the arrest of some suspects accused of arson.
One of them was Kemisola Ogunniyi, who gave birth in the prison custody almost Eight months after her arrest. It took the intervention of human rights activists to get her bail with the sum of N10 million. Up till now, her case is still in the court.
Back memory lane, the Nigerian police created the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in 1992 to tackle rising carjackings, kidnappings, cattle rustling and illegal firearms, among other crimes.
However, SARS officers were accused of numerous abuses, including torture, rape, extortion, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
On October 4, 2020, a video showing SARS officers dragging two men from a hotel and shooting one of them went viral. Ultimately, it was this clip which triggered the eruption of #EndSARS protests on social media and on the streets, calling for the disbandment of the unit.
The largest protest in Nigeria’s history ended after the army reportedly killed at least 12 demonstrators.
One year after #EndSARS protests rocked Nigeria, Nigerian rapper, Folarin ‘Falz’ Falana and comedian Debo Adebayo, also known as Mr Macaroni, did a memorial car procession to mark one year anniversary of the #EndSARS protest.
