Twitter CEO Voices Support For The #EndSARS Protest In Nigeria

Twitter CEO who wanted to spend time in Africa but for the COVID-19 pandemic now says he endorses and favours the #EndSARS protest which has engulfed Nigeria for nearly two weeks now. SARS stands for Special Anti-Robbery Squad and it was formed to take on the common robbery problem in many parts of Nigeria. But many have accused them of abandoning their primary responsibilities for unlawfully taking on younger people whom they feel may have gotten wealth in an illicit way. They have been accused of extrajudicial killings as well but Nigerians over the years took to Twitter and other social media platforms to air their grievances but to no avail. But now, many of them took to the streets and only then did the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu announce that the unit will be scrapped and while some were celebrating, the IG announced a SWAT team about 48 hours later.

https://twitter.com/jack/status/1316485283777519620

Jack Dorsey in a tweet encouraged people to donate to the protest saying Donate via Bitcoin to help #EndSARS.” He retweeted a tweet by the Feminist Coalition which showed people different ways of donating but that tweets seems to have been taken down. The coalition has donated millions to different groups since the protest started. Many say this is by far the most organised protest in the history of Nigeria and that’s largely thanks to Twitter.

But he isn’t the only international figure to have expressed support for the protests which have spread to nearly every major city in Nigeria.

Today though, the protest is focusing on the pay of the National Assembly members whom they say earn way too much compared to other lawmakers around the world. The minimum wage in Nigeria is N30,000/$66 while the average lawmaker makes about N11 million/$24,000. 

Kanye West, Mesut Ozil, John Boyega and Piers Morgan have all come out in support of the protest.