Netizens have shared receipts to counter a claim by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) that no #EndSARS protester is currently detained by the police.
The police’s claim was a rebuttal to Senator Shehu Sani’s speech during the June 12, 2024 Democracy Day celebration where he appealed to President Bola Tinubu to ensure the release of Nigerian youths imprisoned for participating in #EndSARS, a protest against police brutality in 2020.
In a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the police; “affirms that no individual is being unlawfully detained by the Nigeria Police Force or any other security agency in Nigeria due to the EndSARS protest.
“All arrested individuals have been processed according to the law, and none remain unlawfully detained. In Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu pardoned approximately 100 suspects arrested by the Police during the protest.
“For emphasis, no one anywhere in Nigeria is under Police detention or being wrongly persecuted for participating in the EndSARS protest.
“The issues surrounding the protest have been debated, researched, and documented, and lessons have been learnt. We have forgiven ourselves and moved on.”
Netizens however disagree with the police PPRO’s claim. Ojukwu Justin Daniel, a multimedia journalist with FIJ shared a tweet from October 22, 2020 related to the #EndSARS protest, and noted the owner of the X page is “still in jail awaiting trial for four years”.
Similarly, a human rights organisation, Take it back Movement, shared a list of “victims still in prison”.
It is however worthy to note that the police in its rebuttal statement said; “no individual is being unlawfully detained”. This is presumed to mean the police may have charged these individuals with different criminal charges.
