OPINION: Seeing Youths Behind #EndSARS Campaign As Organizers Extraordinaire

By Isaac Asabor

If there are youths in any part of the world who their haters and traducers have mischievously, and consistently being colored to be bad, and have in that light been accused to be perpetrators of “yahoo-yahoo” crime,  kidnapping, armed robbery, rape and all other indescribable crimes that have been the bane of Nigeria, they are unarguably Nigerian youths. In as much as their haters and traducers have for the umpteenth time erroneously tried to convince anyone that cared to listen to them about how bad the behaviors of Nigerian youths are, as their collective disposition have often been misjudged through psycho-dynamic theories of social action in which risk-taking is claimed to have linkages to biological and psychological developments in ‘adolescence’, they have wickedly failed to admit the fact that Nigerian youths are collectively extraordinaire in whatever activity the lay their hands on.

Against the foregoing backdrop, there is no denying the fact that Nigerian youths have been struggling with rejection as most people who their “Chi” has cracked their palm kernels for them often berate the youths as if they are nothing other than being criminals. It is ostensibly against the foregoing backdrop that the youths have been living with hurt that God never intended for them to hold onto. Some of them may have asked questions like, “Why didn’t (or why don’t) they like me?” “Why didn’t (or why don’t) they believe in me?”

At this juncture, it is expedient to say that the definition of rejection is the dismissal of a person, place, or proposal. However, the youths who are ostensibly lovers of God might have heeded to the biblical injunction in the book of 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 12 that says “Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in manner of living, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity”.

Without any iota of exaggeration, the youths have inexorably held on to the foregoing scripture as evidences can be seen in virtually every sector of the economy where they are visibly seen to be holding sway. Most Nigerian youths who are businessmen and women in the entertainment sector, ICTs and generally in the SMEs are springing up from virtually all fronts with technology and innovation that have the potential to transform the Nigerian economy and if the trend continues, it might not be that long before the country takes its place amongst the world’s most developed countries. And we might have many young Nigerian youths who are unarguably tech savvy entrepreneurs to thank for that.

From technology to manufacturing, as well as engineering, hospitality, and a number of other sectors, Nigerian youths are known to be stepping up to the plate and making waves with the establishment of budding businesses.

As if the foregoing enviable exploits that are attributed to Nigerian youths are not enough, they have in their ongoing #EndSARS campaign proven that they are organizers extraordinaire through the protest that has so far spread across the country like wildfire.

Within 12 hours of the commencement of the protest which was simultaneously carried out in Lagos and Abuja, then in other parts of the country, their notifications wouldn’t stop buzzing online, and most Nigerians patriotically joined them as they realized that they had something that could be big, and particularly as the modalities adopted by the youths were no doubt unprecedented.

​As observed by most Nigerians, never in the history of protest in the country has there being massive support for a cause from opinion influencers, celebrities and activists as been witnessed in the #EndSARS Protest.  Celebrities and VIPs that have so far raised their voices in support of the protest cut across, Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Wizkid, Davido, Femi Kuti, Seun Kuti, Run Town, Rekado Bank among others.  Their voices have been loud right from the day the protest started. Not only have they been inexorably committed to the cause which the protesters espouses, they have been braving the vagaries of the weather even as they have unequivocally remained resilient.

Not only have they been resilient and committed to the cause, their professional colleagues from other parts of the world have heard their cries, and had on that grounds joined them to ensure that the entire departments of the Nigeria Police are sanitized.

As gathered, the protest has been attracting calls from the US, the UK, Canada, Switzerland and Germany even as internationally acclaimed entertainment maestros such as Diddy, Treyz Song, Chance the Rapper, Lil Baby, Damson Idris, City Girls, Kanye West, have all shown solidarities to Nigerians in their bid to ensure that ideal policing is attained.

Activities surrounding the protest have been unarguably gaining momentum on online social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Whatsapp, and the messages have been seen by analysts to be forceful enough to make impressions on data analytics.

With the harsh tag, #EndSARS, the protest has been trending worldwide at number one spot on Twitter. Also, the hashtag has had over 7 billion impressions with an estimated 28 million tweets from more than 2 million Twitter users.

It is therefore not surprising that the unequivocal support which Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Twitter, Jack Dorsey extended to the #EndSARS campaign earned him condemnation from the government. However, the flak has not in any way moved him to move for the discontinuation of the usage of the emoji that is a semblance of a raised fist which he was said to have designed in the colours of the Nigerian flag; green, white and green.  In a tweet, the CEO of Twitter, used the #EndSARS hashtag with the new emoji.

Commendably enough to the organizers is their ingenuity in making the movement to be amorphous. With this, observers and analysts alike said it contributed to the success of the campaign, saying that if the leadership was identified there would have been the case of the government dangling irresistible carrots before them, and that would make them to back out as we have witnessed in the past, particularly among labour activists. It is against this background that the leaders are been seen to be Organizers extraordinaire.