Protests and blood on the streets: repressive state, police brutality and #EndSARS protest in Nigeria

This article investigates how the Nigerian state is implicated in police brutality and clampdown on the #EndSARS protesters and its implications for democracy, development and national security. The article used primary data comprising 38 telephone interviews, 19,609 Facebook posts/reposts and 24,799 Twitter tweets/retweets, complementing it with a wide range of secondary data. From the analyses of data, it shows there is an obvious mutual trust deficit between government and the citizens. This is supported by one-third of the 36 states in Nigeria which witnessed sporadic #EndSARS protests and destruction of government establishments. Use of heavy firearms against unarmed protesters escalated the conflict from civil disobedience to a demand to a change of government. Thus, establishment of institutional mechanisms and disciplinary measures that control the excesses of security agents during civil protests is imperative to protect civil and human rights of protesters.