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Ghanaians are solidarizing with their neighbors Nigeria over the recent spate of killings in the oil-rich country. The situation which has become alarming has received widespread attention and condemnation from several world leaders including the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, Former US Secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and Former Vice President and Candidate for the Democratic Party, Joe Biden who have all called for an end to the brutal murders.

Several Ghanaians have also taken to social media to register their protest with the hashtag #EndSARS while mounting pressure on Ecowas and the AU to intervene in the matter. Incidentally Ghana’s President, Nana Akufo Addo is the Chairman of Ecowas and is yet to make a public statement on the matter

 

Tens of thousands of Nigerians have been taking to the streets for more than two weeks to protest against police brutality.

Young people mobilizing through social media began staging demonstrations calling for the abolition of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which has long been accused of unlawful arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings. The protests were triggered by the release of a viral video allegedly showing SARS officers killing a young man in the southern Delta state. Authorities denied the video was real.

The man who filmed the video was arrested, provoking even more anger.

SARS was a special police unit set up in 1984 as Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, battled rising levels of crime and kidnappings.

Initially, it was successful in reducing cases of violent crime but more recently the unit had been “turned into banditry”, according to Fulani Kwajafa, the man who set up SARS.