Daily Roundup #1: From Fighting Oppression to $200M acquisitions and Honoring the Fallen.
'Lazy Nigerian youths engineer the biggest tech exit in Nigeria while the government tries to sabotage the efforts of protesters across the states.
“If there is one thing that has become evident, it is that the Nigerian government is disbursing more effort towards sabotaging the youths, than working on our demands to show accountability towards a better Nigeria.”
- Lola Salehu
Clear acts of sabotage towards the peaceful protest of the Nigerian youths came to a head on the 15th of October, 2020. “Thugs were seen to have been dropped off at the Alausa Protest Grounds by a fleet of BRT buses owned by the Lagos State Government. Twenty buses in total, filled with hoodlums wielding brand new machetes, and deadly scowls drawn across their faces”
Read more about the unsuccessful sabotage in this article from Lola Shehu.
I’ve never seen a government in Nigeria this terrified of the people they’re meant to serve. It must be shocking for them to see a united front, fueled by solidarity, honesty and perseverance.
Young Nigerians have created a systemic government from the grounds of these protests, led by the people and for the people. Ugo writes about how we even managed to provide security for ourselves in the midst of government antagonism.
True democracy built up from the groaning of a fed-up generation.
You would think that the efforts to sabotage us would be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back. No. Not in Nigeria. Our leaders climb up the ladder of impunity and commit more atrocity by the day. It’s almost as if, they have a roundtable meeting where they go “In what way can we offend the population today?”
On October 16th, that answer led to lies and more lies. Traditional media has been covering the protests in a false light, spreading wrong reports that the protests have been violent from the side of the protesters. Audacious and appalling!
Well, that’s why we write.
That’s why we document. The narrative will not be told from the mouths of our oppressors. History will not play these lies. Eugene Adavore covers the story well in his article on the false narrative of our formerly beloved media houses.
Instead, we will tell the true tale of our heroes. We will wax lyrical about the bravery and peacefulness of our on-ground protesters. The accountability and quickness of our funding partners.
The wisdom and support of the older generation standing with us and of course, the formidable, never-to-be-silenced roar of our “Twitter protesters, WhatsApp warriors, Facebook and Instagram evangelists”
Olaide eulogizes our e-Heroes in this piece.
And who can quickly forget the biggest comeback of all African history (argue with your self please) when the same laptops so wickedly confiscated and used as “criminal-identification device” by SARS officials, became a tool for the biggest tech exit out of the country.
Paystack, the fintech company that processes payments for African businesses just sold for 200m$ to Stripe, while President Bubu the bad boy and his backwards-thinking clan share tricycles and motorbikes in what they call the “Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme Tools”
Nigerian youths 300 - Government 12. Edikan tells the story well in her article on the ‘Lazy Nigerian Youth’
Lastly on this roundup, Chijioke Eruchalu, a survivor and witness of the brutality meted out by the officers at the Awkuzu SARS, Onitsha, told tales of woe on his Twitter page on Friday, 16th October 2020. It’s a sobering read. Detailed and reported by Olaide in this piece.
Tonight, Friday, October 16th 2020, we hold a candle for everyone who has died either at the hands of SARS or police brutality before and during this protest. You will never be forgotten.
The message remains the same.
See you 9:30 pm tomorrow, #ENDSARS.