#EndSARS - Does Nigerian police violence have ethnic bias?

October 22, 2020 2:03 PM

I'm following the #EndSARS anti-police protests in Nigeria and have been wondering: Police violence in the Americas (US, Brazil) is an essentialy racist question. Is this also true in Nigeria to any extent? I realize that the answer is probably "it's complicated"; so I'm not looking for a simplistic answer, I just want to understand Nigerian society better.

Information is vague and I've been trying to deduce things, so sorry if this is oversimplified, naïve or offensive.

This article mentios that "Sọrọ sókè werey", a Yoruba phrase, has become associated with the protests.

This article mentions Nigerians in Ghana protesting against SARS, as far as I know, Yorubaland covers part of Ghana, correct?

This article indicates that the anti-police violence manifestos have been translated to Yoruba, but not Igbo.

At the same time, this article has Igbo youth condemning the disbandment of SARS.

So: does this have any igbo vs. yoruba component?

posted by Tom-B to Society & Culture (1 answer total)

I am not really up on the background of the riots, but I have some background in Yoruba language. Yoruba does not extend as far as Ghana, but it is the main language in the Lagos area. Internal immigrants to Lagos from outside the Yoruba speaking southwestern states often learn a smattering of Yoruba as one of the dominant city languages in Lagos. The presence of a police unit that is charged to go after small time robbery seems aimed at bands of local "area boys", who are local gangs but not necessarily grouped by ethnicity. At present there doesn't seem to be any great animosity between Igbo and Yoruba.
posted by zaelic at 5:36 AM on October 23, 2020 [1 favorite]