Monday, October 26, 2020: State Violence in Nigeria

 “#EndSARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) isn’t just about police brutality. It’s about the future of Nigeria.”

Our show today is about this movement and its relationship to the Nigerian future and its past. The Special Anti-Robbery Squad, the federal, semi-autonomous tactical police team, was formed in 1984 to thwart the national rise in kidnappings, car-jackings, robberies, and more. Since then, the unit has been abusing its power and Nigerian people in various ways, from coaxing bus drivers to pay money before allowing them to pass to the recent extrajudicial killing of people they are sworn to protect. It’s the perpetual, decades-long abuse of authority that has thousands of young Nigerians demanding that their government #EndSARS. The campaign is also about the ever-widening inequalities in Africa’s most populous state with enough wealth to improve all lives, and much more.

KPFA Women's Magazine producer Margo Okazawa-Rey and Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International Nigeria Country Director discuss the current armed violence perpetrated by state actors.

Ms. Osai Ojigho is a lawyer, gender equality advocate and human rights expert with a special interest in the African Human Rights system. Currently, the Country Director of Amnesty International Nigeria. Prior to joining Amnesty International, she served in various roles with Oxfam including as interim Pan Africa Director of Oxfam GB’s Pan African Programme. She was the Coalition Coordinator for the SOTU (State of the Union) Coalition, a human rights observer to the African Union Mission to Mali and the Sahel and Deputy Executive Director of Alliances for Africa. She is well travelled and widely published, contributing to various publications including the Commonwealth Law Journal, The AU ECHO (Newsletter of the African Union Commission), ThisDay Newspapers, The East African and Agenda. She is a member of the Association of Women in Development (AWID), the West African Women Elections Observation (WAWEO) team, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and a life member of the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU). She is also a consulting editor with Open Global Rights and a mentor to Mandela Washington Fellows. She sits on the Global Advisory Council of Institute For African Women In Law (IAWL). She holds a Law degree from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a Masters’ in Law degree from the University of Wolverhampton, UK. Twitter: @livingtruely 

Sign the petition to End impunity for police violence in Nigeria. 

Click here to listen to the show. 59:50 min