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#EndSARSNigeriaPolitics

Open Letter: African writers stand with #EndSARS protesters

By Various co-signatories
October 20, 2020
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Over a hundred African writers say justice must be served for victims of police brutality. 

endsars open letter

At an #EndSARS protest in Abuja. 

As African writers across borders, we denounce in the strongest terms the tyrannical and shameful persecution of innocent Nigerians by officers of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force and the continued harassment of peaceful protesters in the country.

We note that, as Chinua Achebe said, “We cannot trample on the humanity of others without devaluing our own.” Nigerian authorities and the police have devalued themselves by keeping SARS in effect for as long as they have. This cannot be undone by merely disbanding, dissolving or otherwise rebranding SARS as SWAT, while still intimidating Nigerians who are exercising their rights to peaceful protest.

The list of innocent Nigerians who have been harassed, falsely imprisoned, tortured and extrajudicially murdered by SARS operatives is as long as the absence of justice for these victims is resounding. We note that reform of the police and policing system in Nigeria will not be complete without justice for victims of SARS brutality and the arrest, dismissal and prosecution of police officers found culpable of crimes against the people.

We, therefore, condemn the continued determination of the Nigeria Police Force to shield officers indicted in flagrant acts of brutality by either promoting them or redeploying them away from places where their reprehensible acts of cruelty have drawn public ire, or by replacing the label on SARS with SWAT.

Because the dead cannot cry out for justice, it is our duty, as the living and as writers and humans, to demand it for them. And so we stand firm to demand that every officer of SARS and the Nigeria Police Force in general who commits acts of brutality against our innocent brothers and sisters in Nigeria be subjected to an independent judicial inquiry.

We condemn the continued police harassment, arrest, detention and torture of peaceful protesters against police brutality as well as the empowerment and deployment of undesirable elements and sponsored thugs to attack protesters in Lagos, Abuja and Kano and other parts of the country by parties acting on behalf of the Nigerian state. 

We note the threat by the Nigerian military to unleash its habitual terror on protesters and condemn this in the strongest terms. These protests are peaceful and are expressions of the fundamental rights of Nigerians, who should not be threatened by the military, the police or thugs while they go about the peaceable expression of their constitutional rights. 

We strongly believe that the Nigerian military might serve public interest best if deployed against Boko Haram and bandits terrorizing the country, not against unarmed civilians exercising their rights.

We ask that the government of Nigeria, under President Muhammadu Buhari, take concrete measures, beyond the flippant rhetoric of years gone by, and immediately reform the police, the Nigeria Police Force as a whole. We insist that forthwith policing practices in the country be carried out with openness and transparency.

We will not condone further abuse of the fundamental rights of our sisters and brothers in Nigeria and elsewhere on the continent by security personnel who are sworn to serve and protect them.

We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters protesting on the streets of Nigeria, and ask that every right-thinking member of the global community raise their voice and support the agitation for justice for the victims of police brutality in Nigeria, the immediate termination of such inexcusable conduct by all units of the police and a sincere and tangible reform of the police in Nigeria.

#EndSARS

Signed by:

  1. Chris Abani
  2. Leila Aboulela
  3. Kelvin Adantchede
  4. Ayobami Adebayo
  5. Leye Adenle
  6. Ama Ata Aidoo
  7. Bisi Adjapon
  8. José Eduardo Agualusa
  9. Dami Ajayi
  10. Kofi Akpabli
  11. Richard Ali
  12. Abdulkareeem Baba Aminu
  13. Lesley Nneka Arimah
  14. Sefi Atta
  15. Ayesha Harruna Attah
  16. Biyi Bandele
  17. Asiedu Benneh
  18. TJ Benson
  19. Oyinkan Brathwaite
  20. Nana Brew-Hammond
  21. Noviolet Bulawayo
  22. Jessemusse Cacinda
  23. Panashe Chigumadzi
  24. Tsitsi Dangarembga
  25. Tolu Daniel
  26. Phillippa  Yaa de Villiers
  27. Dilman Dila
  28. Raoul Djimeli
  29. Renee Edwige Dro
  30. Amatoritsero Ede
  31. Ainehi Edoro
  32. Chike Frankie Edozien
  33. Victor Ehikhamenor
  34. Chinelo Enemuo
  35. Kalaf Epalanga
  36. Virgilia Ferrão
  37. Laurence Gnaro
  38. Jonuel Gonçalves
  39. Helon Habila
  40. Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
  41. Emmanuel Iduma
  42. Arinze Ifeakandu
  43. Eghosa Imasuen
  44. Eugénio  Inocêncio
  45. Tade Ipadeola
  46. Nozizwe Cynthia Jele
  47. Mubanga Kalimamukwento 
  48. Mali Kambandu
  49. Toni Kan
  50. Tamanda  Kanjaye
  51. Parsalelo Kantai
  52. Precious Kemigisha
  53. Yejide Kilanko
  54. Peter Kimani
  55. Kinna Likimani
  56. Rumbidzai Makanga
  57. Angela Makholwa
  58. Jennifer Makumbi
  59. Napo Masheane
  60. Mohale Mashigo
  61. Lebogang Mashile
  62. Makanaka Mavengere
  63. Ngwatilo Mawiyoo
  64. Zakes Mda
  65. Howard Meh-Buh Maximus
  66. Maaza Mengiste
  67. Niq Mhlongo 
  68. Yamikani Mlangiza
  69. Lerato Mogoathle 
  70. Yara Monteiro
  71. William Ifeanyi Moore
  72. Nastio  Mosquito
  73. Merdi Mukore
  74. Richard Ali Mutu
  75. Njabulo  Ndebele
  76. Okey Ndibe
  77. Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva 
  78. Remy Ngamije
  79. Kagayi Ngobi
  80. Mukoma wa Ngugi
  81. Chibuihe Obi
  82. Chigozie Obioma
  83. Obari Gomba
  84. Obinna Ochem
  85. Rene Odanga
  86. Damilola Olagunju
  87. Ukamaka Olisakwe
  88. Natasha Omokhodion-Banda
  89. Ondjaki
  90. Troy Onyango
  91. Tochi Onyebuchi
  92. Chibundu Onuzo
  93. Romeo Oriogun
  94. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
  95. Alice Palmira
  96. Nii Ayikwei Parkes
  97. Djamila Ribeiro
  98. Muhammad-Tahir Sanuth
  99. Taiye Selasi
  100. Elma Shaw
  101. Lola Shoneyin
  102. Holder Simbad
  103. Samantha Steele
  104. Veronique Tadjo
  105. Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
  106. Kola Tubosun
  107. Telma Tvon 
  108. Hilda Twongyeirwe
  109. Obinna Udenwe
  110. Uche  Peter Umez
  111. Chika Unigwe
  112. Uzor Maxim Uzoatu
  113. Kenechi Uzor
  114. Zukiswa Wanner
  115. Molara Wood
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