The editor in Chief of UN Dispatch and host of the Global Dispatches Podcast, Mark Leon Goldberg has published his views on current socio-political events in Nigeria, attracting reactions from Nigerians.
What Goldberg said: Taking to threaded Tweets on Thursday, January 19, 2023, Goldberg credited the followership enjoyed by Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, to the EndSARS movement, which he further said was influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement.
What Nigerians had to say: With his thread of tweets going viral, many Nigerians gave their opinions on Goldbergs commentary.
About BLM: Black Lives Matter is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to address issues of racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by African Americans.
Most of its notable concerns have been on issues of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people.
For instance, the story of George Perry Floyd Jr. sparked a nationwide protest in America, and caught international attention.
About George Floyd: He was African-American man, murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill, on May 25, 2020.
History of EndSARS: In 2017, a social media campaign with the hashtag #EndSARS was launched. Hundreds of Nigerians used the hashtag to document abuses by SARS officers and demand the end of impunity for those human rights violations.
EndSARS protests began in October 2020 as a call to end police brutality and extrajudicial killings that have become endemic in Nigeria. The nationwide protest was particularly sparked by a viral video allegedly showing SARS officers killing a young man in the southern Delta state.
However, Harassment and unfair treatment by the police are rife, and it dates back to the military era when soldiers unlawfully arrested citizens and violated their rights.
What you should know: While George Floyd's BLM protests started in May 26, 2020, EndSARS kicked off on October 8, 2020.
Pulse Editor's Comment: It is easy for an American perspective to credit the EndSARS to the BLM protest over George Floyd's murder, only because both events happened in the same year, with BLM opening the curtains.
However, in discussing socio-political issues that are sensitive to the public, it is rather important that writers tell balanced stories.