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One of the most well-known Landmarks in Lagos is the Lekki-Ikoyi bridge. A cable-stayed bridge connecting the affluent area of Ikoyi to Lekki over an expanse of the Lagos lagoon, it is popularly featured in the opening b-roll sequence of numerous Nollywood films. On either end of the bridge there are police check-points where, at night, policemen on duty create barricades and stand menacingly with rifles and torchlights. Supposedly, they check each car that passes for safety measures. In reality, each time a car crosses these checkpoints, or any of the others—both legal and illegal—that are scattered arbitrarily around the city, the driver endures a breath-holding, heart pounding moment as their mind races, unsure of what to expect. Will the officers be drunk? Belligerent? Aggressive? Unreasonable? Impatient as they try to squeeze money out of you? Or will this be one of the lucky days that you get to pass by without incident?

The bridge was also the setting for another landmark moment in Nigerian history, the infamous night of October 20th 2020. It was a night of untold and unspeakable horrors, when Nigerian soldiers attacked young civilians during the EndSARS protest, and angry protesters set fire to both the VI and Ikoyi toll gates in retaliation.

One night when Lolu**, another survivor, a student, left a lecture at a university campus in Edo state and was profiled by the police, “I was young, naïve, and carefree at the time. I didn’t take the situation seriously”. He and a few other male students were accosted by a group of policemen who had been hanging around outside the campus grounds. “They began questioning us. I showed them my ID as proof that I was a student. They searched all of us. One of the guys had weed on him. They immediately tried to arrest us all and take us to the station. That’s when things got physical. They beat us with their bats, guns, and fists. I was bleeding on my chest. They took us to the station and I was there for 2 days before I was released. I still have the scar on my chest. My only crime was being a student and leaving my lecture at night.”

As chilling as it sounds, Temi and Lolu are two of the lucky few to encounter police brutality and make it out alive. At the recent Lekki protest, family and friends of deceased victims came forward to recount the stories of those they had lost and the horrors of police wards such as the unit in Awkwuzu Anambra, one of the most notorious SARS offices. Many young men have entered the unit to never be seen again. It’s even rumored that their bodies get dumped in the river.

Blessing** had her face permanently scarred after a brief encounter with the police. She woke up in hospital after pleading with the police to let her and her fiancée go when they were stopped on their way to church. “All our documents were in order, but they were insisting they weren’t,” she says. “I begged them to let us go. My next memory was waking up in the hospital. Every time I see the scar, I feel very emotional. I wish I never got out of the car, but I feared something worse could have happened if I didn’t, and that they could have killed my fiancée. I wish something could be done about fishing out the bad eggs in the police force.”

That wish was echoed by the hopeful youth participating in the peaceful End SARS protests. On October 11, 2020, the Nigerian government ordered an immediate dissolution of the unit. For a brief euphoric moment, it felt like a triumph. But reports continued to flood in on SARS sightings, and as the protests demanding police reform carried on, protesters continued to be assaulted and illegally arrested at various protest sites.

“I was at the protest grounds with my brothers and his friends, we were vibing,” says Tunji Daniels*, recalling that terrifying night. “Suddenly we saw people running. My brother’s friend fell to the floor, he had been shot and was bleeding. We couldn’t stop to pick him up, we had to keep running. I kept looking back at him as we ran, hoping he would stand up, contemplating running back to pick him up. Then suddenly, I ran into a sharp object that pierced my tummy. We struggled to get it out and managed to run to our friend’s house where we explained everything to his mother. She still blames us for his death. I spent a week in the hospital. My injury has stopped me from doing many things I love, like playing football. I’m not allowed to do any strenuous activities. My brother is still traumatized. He witnessed his friend gunned down before his eyes. We thought something would be done about this, but despite the judicial hearings, nothing ever happened.”

Shortly after the protests, the Lagos state government set up a six-month long Judicial panel of inquiry to investigate individual cases of police brutality, and later extended it by 3 months to investigate the night of October 20, 2022, despite the government’s adamant denial of the incident occurring in the first place. While about 71 out of 255 cases were awarded monetary compensation after judgment, the report of the investigation of the shootings claimed that at least 46 unarmed protesters were either shot dead, injured with bullets, or assaulted by security forces at the Lekki Tollgate on October 20. The panel said it found the death toll to be 9, while 33 others were shot at, wounded, and assaulted on the night of the incident. Witness accounts claim that these numbers are much higher.