Media Coverage of Women’s Involvement in the #EndSARS Protest Movement in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

In October 2020, anger among Nigerian citizens about violence being perpetrated by the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) erupted in a series of virtual and in-person protests. Nigerian women used the #EndSARS protest movement to navigate the patriarchal and oppressive nature of the state and demand the end of police brutality and more accountability among state security agents. The media has played an immense role in shaping the narratives of the protest movement and women’s involvement in it. This study examines the frames used by Nigerian news media when reporting on women’s participation in the #EndSARS movement. Analysis of 174 online news articles published in October 2020 in Punch, The Sun Nigeria, Guardian Nigeria and The Cable revealed that the media framed the female protesters as having vital political agency and clear insights into the relations between the state and its citizens, but also as passive victims.

KEYWORDS:

• #EndSARS
• police brutality
• media frames
• women’s political agency

Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful for Professor Phil Goodman’s invaluable guidance, support and encouragement during the development of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 According to Amnesty International, 56 people were killed by excessive use of force by security agencies during the #EndSARS protests (Amnesty International 2021).

2 It is important to note that kings in Yoruba kingdom, even during or the pre-colonial period, were exalted to the position of a deity (Oladumiye and Adiji 2014).

3 According to the Democracy Index rankings, Nigeria is categorized as a hybrid regime, and is only one position above the category of an authoritarian state (Economic Intelligence Unit 2020).

4 The country is ranked 147 out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index (Institute for Economics & Peace 2020). Political Terrorism Scale ranks Nigeria as the sixth most violent country in the world (Feindouno, Goujon, and Wagner 2016).

5 The Human Development Index ranks Nigeria at a low level of development (161 out of 189; UNDP 2020).

6 The Punch, The Sun Nigeria and Guardian Nigeria are media organizations in both print and online platforms. I could not get access to the print forms of these newspapers, given that I was not in Nigeria when this study was conducted. Nevertheless, the online news pieces for these media also feature in their print platforms.

7 Aisha Yesufu was also active during the #BringBackOurGirls protests in 2013.

8 This event is regarded as the bloodiest of the protest: on the evening of 20 October 2020, members of the Nigerian military shot at the #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos State, Nigeria (Olukoya and Oyekanmi 2020; Paquette 2020b). According to reports, 12 protesters were killed in that event (Amnesty International 2021; Olukoya and Oyekanmi 2020) and 38 people died across Nigeria (Amnesty International 2021).