 Some of us are sitting here because we love this country so much and we do not want the country to burn. We have always complained about the situation of things in Nigeria. We want this to be better in our whole lifetime. Not just for Nigerian youth, but for the police themselves. They deserve better. Why can't they get good salary? Why can't they get good houses and cars? You understand? So they also deserve better. But they too need to realize that we too also deserve better. Nobody is going to be happy or just suffering them, exploiting them or pricing them. Nobody will be happy about that. So that is why we always do this. So that people will never forget. Thank you very much. Some of us are sitting here because we love this country so much and we do not want the country to burn. We have always complained about the situation of things in Nigeria. We want this to be better in our whole lifetime. Not just for Nigerian youth, but for the police themselves. They deserve better. Why can't they get good salary? All right. So the ENSAR's movement, which began in Nigeria in October 2020, is a defining moment in the fight for justice and accountability. This movement was a response to the long-standing issues of police brutality and abuse of power by the special anti-rubbery squad in Nigeria. Now indeed to honor the memory of those who lost their lives, endured injustice, and to keep the spirit of reform alive, the ENSAR's memorial this year, led by Piles and Mr. Macaroni, stands as a symbol of resilience, unity, and the ongoing struggle for a better Nigeria. So today we are asking, what is the state of the Nigerian youth three years down the ENSAR's movement? Now please, let's hear what you have to say. Remember, you can join the conversation, send us an SMS or WhatsApp to 08183 4663. NJ wajaka. Interesting day. Where were you first of all on this day in 2020? In 2020, unfortunately I was actually at home, but I remember I was out the day before. I think we were out till about past midnight or something like that. But we obviously heard of the news not to show up on Sunday, and so we stayed back at home. And we heard the gunshots and all those things that happened that day. So yeah, I was very close to the scene of it. Yeah, because your house is just right here. Yeah, right there, yeah. It was quite... Well, it's three years gone and a lot of things have happened in those three years. Like you rightfully said, 15 of those people who were arrested, and that's just who we know. So 15 of those, some of the people who were arrested are still in jail. This is three years after. Even a criminal would have been convicted by now or should have been convicted by now. I don't think there's any crime they committed that day that would warrant them still being in jail for three years unless there was a conviction. So if you want to ask about the current state of things, people are still unhappy. It's still a very sour conversation. It's a conversation that you would have and every time people are bitter about it. And rightfully as a Nigerian citizen, I don't think anything has changed with the police system and I am saying this outright because I haven't seen any changes. Two days ago, I drove by the Lekitoget and I was surprised to see... I was wondering what was happening. I actually thought the president was coming into town. But then I remembered, I looked at my watch and I realized what day it was. So for the last 24 to 48 hours, there have been over about 20 bullion vans and police vehicles at the tow gate. And as surprising as it is, well, it's not surprising like that. But you understand what I mean. It's surprising that we still go through the same thing every year. So this is what worries me. So 24 hours before or 48 hours before, we were able to push out that much security at the Lekitoget just for fear of what would happen. And what is the worst that can happen at the tow gate is that protesters would come and work around the tow gates to show in remembrance of the people who were lost and in remembrance of the people who fought for a cause and in remembrance of people who were shot dead and in remembrance of people who were injured and in remembrance of people who have had to leave the country based on that situation. So I don't think there's anything wrong with a peaceful protest. But the fact that the Nigerian police will see the need, I understand the situation, but every year you've seen that the situation has come down. So having that kind of massive presence at the tow gate already shows that our system is not doing what it's supposed to do. And why is that? If you have that massive turnout at the tow gate of police security, if we have half of that within the country and within the state itself, Nigeria will be a better place in terms of security. And I see them, you know, it's almost like every year to me, how I feel, it's almost like every year they come out in their best outfits, you see them all cleaned up, you know, with the tear gas and everything, they are ready for any situation. But where is the humanity in that system in terms of even showing some form of solidarity in remembrance of the people who lost their life. No responsibility has been taken for a whole lot of things, especially even removing the cameras that were there and the inspector general of police who found some exhibits at the tow gate. There were a lot of situations that we can actually pick up on and tear into pieces in terms of how things, the last, the events of how things were done that whole week or weekend because that protest was for like almost two weeks and then on that day ended. And a lot there have been videos, even after that, after 2020, there have been a lot of videos. I know that some people have done documentaries like there was a documentary that came out about three families that were affected and how they were affected and it was majorly centered on police brutality. There were three families and there were some, there was a CP that was named as the killer cop and there were a couple of other people that were named. Until today we haven't heard anything about that in terms of how that case was just pushed to the side like it didn't matter. And it matters a lot because there were human lives lost that day and would I say every evidence irrespective of what is being portrayed on social media and on the news in terms of denial or accepting blame, no one is truly coming out to actually accept blame for anything and no one is getting punished. So I like what you said about the police having about 20 bouillon vans having more tanks by the tour gates. And I'll say to you for free it's because of the fear of what might happen again. So it's almost like Kai we allow these people so this time let's not even give them any chance at all to do any such thing. That's why you would have such a huge number of police presence at the tour gate. But if you say that the NSARS protest the question for today is how are the youth fairing after three years? I would say that the general elections this year in February kind of like hinted on how the young people are fairing or how they want to move on from this. A lot of young people came out in mass there was a huge registration of new voters this year. People stood out to make sure that the votes were counted and all of those things just because of the aftermath of the 2020 events from October the 20th. So I don't know how this will play out but I really am grateful for the fact that the likes of FALSE, Mr. Makaroni, the EIE people and all of those people are actually keeping the conversations at the front burner. Because you see what I have heard several times is that politicians are, what's the word now? They understand the language of the young people. They believe that don't worry just give them big brother give them this, they will forget. But all of those things I don't see it happening with this tour gate especially the lucky tour incident that happened. So I'm really praying that we do not lose steam we do not lose focus because again the main essence for this protest in the first place was for a better, what's it called? Policing structure, security personnel who wanted a better life not just for ourselves but also for citizens. I'll tell you a story. My son was in the car with his father and his hair was decently cut because again they tell you that oh profiling after whatever whatever but his hair was decently cut with his father but because they were driving the farm car which is the Corolla so they assumed that he was in an Uber and they stopped them and asked him to come down my son was not asking why so they were just questioning him and I said I'm with my father but they didn't want to believe that he was with his father it was almost like they were trying to harass him until the father now intervened and all of that so literally every young person that you are a young man automatically in the eye of most young people in the eye of the police they are all into internet fraud they are into drugs and all of those things so they have every right to harass them but guess what this is not to say that the young people themselves are not guilty of some of these things do you understand because again we must be truthful to ourselves that a lot of people took advantage of the ensar's protest that was ongoing to push for their own agendas you cannot deny the fact that there is a high level of internet fraud going on in the country a lot of fraud going on in the country especially amongst young people or people into drugs and all of that those things are real so if you say ok do the police have a basis to continue to do some kind of profiling of these young people they have a solid base and I've heard several times where police will stop people they will take them somewhere and they will give them a millionaire and they continue if I don't have a millionaire engine there's no how you want to shake me do you understand the fact that they keep on getting away with these settlements means that some of these guys that they actually arrest are guilty but it is the idea of not categorizing everybody into that box that I have a problem with but we'll take a break right when we come back from that break we'll continue the conversation and hopefully we'll take your comments stay with us we'll be right back let's hear what you have to say remember you can join the conversation send us an SMS over at alright so before we went on a break I was just explaining how it's important that we understand and realize that the police also have a bit of basis you understand in some of these things that they do a lot of young people have taken to crime they've taken to going into what's it called all sorts of fraudulent activity some of them are guising under the what's it called the umbrella of content creators some of them are under the umbrella of I am selling clothes and bag and shoes but the real job behind those things or cars or real estate but the real job behind some of these things are actually fraudulent what's it called internet fraud or whatever it is you want to call it maybe drugs or something literally yes there's a lot of crime going on underneath some of these things so I don't even have an issue with that yeah yeah so I was just going to say that if we say that we want to check on young people three years after the same issues that called or that warranted I wouldn't say it won't cause people will come for me but it's not like anybody deserves to be ill treated right I mean I watched a documentary let me give a good example a documentary about bitcoin how a young boy in the university harvested or he stole this was when bitcoin just came out so literally he was one of the people that were writing the codes and all of that this guy clean theft he did about 50,000 bitcoin which was worth about 3 billion so this guy was just cleaning out he was busy living a life so like fraud happens everywhere but the thing is with this guy by the time they finally arrested him I think he was giving like 2 years jail term or something so for me even if these guys or these young people are into crime as a police officer if you've done your proper investigation and you find them guilty why don't we have a healthy was he called a healthy judicial system that just convicts these people put them in jail and probably like after how many years after serving their term they come out right but why do we have to get to that point where a police officer will probably drag a steering with you jump in front of your car stop you at night bundle you into a bus take you to some station and all of that and I will take it back to what we have said earlier is the fact that we don't have data we don't have people don't have an identity in this country literally I can be here and you know nobody can identify where I am where I stay whatever I do so most of these people especially law enforcement agencies they feel that the only way to catch a criminal is to really catch the criminal they don't have they can't think of any other creative way to arrest or to detain or to whatever they have to go through that brutal way of bundling them inside their car driving them somewhere because all of those things if we had a system that was functional the police will never do those kind of things because even their own identity is at risk because people can actually identify them and report them and you look at the state of our police vehicles for instance I saw some vehicles in Dubai I saw a police vehicle and the police drive Ferrari because if they need to catch criminals some of those criminals are inside those Bugatti so they have to match engine power for engine power but our own police cars if you see them the ones that are even clean and the ones that were donated then the ones that are not clean you see them dilabitated permanently parked on the road you see all the engines and everything you know showing so I mean like literally the way our police represents some level of poverty or something it's also a cost for concern and I think again if you bring it back to the end sales process those were also part of the fight that a lot of young people were fighting even on the behalf of the police so they don't have to do all this kind of you know would I call it illegal stuff so I don't know who we are going to blame for this so there's you've listed some of the things and coming from the part of the citizens and the individuals yes the police is there you said that the only way that they can actually tackle this is by attacking the crime that's fine profiling is taught you learn how to profile people so there is there's a training that goes with it so if you have been trained properly even as an individual I can profile someone to an extent so I am expecting that someone who has been through confirmed training should have a little bit of expertise and professionalism when they do when they you know when they execute you know their job functions so you can't tell me that stopping every young boy who has dreads is a profile I don't think that's very intelligent coming from the police you can't tell me that anybody in Toyota Corolla or in Mercedes yes we know that they drive there are series of cars that they drive and you can't tell me that anyone that is in a Mercedes will be stopped and harassed because they are in a Mercedes there should be some level of professionalism and intelligence added to this and that's the reason why there is a training that comes with it you are made to ask certain questions and when those questions are not answered or evidence is not given then you can make your speculations and make your assumptions and make your conclusions but you can't see two young men sitting in a car maybe just coming back from the gym on their way to go and buy something to eat so they are obviously in shorts you can't expect them to be in shirts and tie they are probably in shorts a t-shirt on cold hair because they are just going to go and look for something to eat and then you stop them and they tell you ok and make computer scientists and made this a manatee person and then you say they look like criminals how do you come to such a realization if you are supposed to be a professional there are certain things that you will ask searching of people's phone is totally out of bounds so where did we get to that point and why do we have police with the fact that we even have police in the system who are requesting for money and letting the thieves go are those not the real criminals we have to say about that if your job is to catch criminals and you are conniving with the criminals to let them go and attacking and harassing innocent citizens who are either going to work or going about their businesses how is that any police work how is that profiling in any way so something has to be done is either that the training exercise is done again or certain rules are given you see my issue is that the police does not even respect the police system because even the police system and the police commissioner have come out to say certain things about the way that the police should handle certain situations but is that a head to the answer is no and nobody gets punished we just once in a while meet people maybe until they are caught on camera and caught with live videos before the police does anything and then they come on live video and this am a police man is that supposed to make us feel safer the fact that the people who are supposed to protect us are on the road harassing people and even extorting people and carrying out crime on their own something needs to be done this is three years later you asked me for the heartbeat of everyone nobody is happy because nothing has changed the system hasn't changed the individuals haven't changed recently I saw it on social media that there was a man that was being accused of a crime and a few days later a few weeks later he was bad as a police man in Kano so how does that happen so how do you tell me that I can lead my life to the safety of the police when the police, when criminals are in the police system the caption on that particular post and I am actually looking forward to maybe that is a fake news it has to be because the caption on that particular post said that he was a very very notorious criminal that they have been searching for then all of a sudden this same notorious criminal so I get the part that became again let's go back to even international communities right you know there is a way crime so part of what this guy that I was talking about you know his his agreement was that if he told the guys the investigators and the FBI that if he told them how he was able to hack the system and all of that they have to give him a lighter sense I mean criminals always do these negotiations where they go back and forth so we don't know the state for this particular notorious criminal that was caught in Kano that all of a sudden now is now a police police person we are all states we are all states can get you to that point where you put him in the same system to guard the same people and protect the same people who are accusing him of crime and you think he will not go after them what you are failing to realize is that in Nigeria right now you see this thing where they talk criminal they are not the right time for head but a lot of people have been compromised and when I say that a lot of people have been compromised I mean it from every sector so check any sector right now there are a lot of people that are compromised now the one way you know do you understand because these things they are not the right time for face a lot of people have been compromised so you really right now the way I deal with people if you are a suspect then you prove me otherwise that is how it is because again you can't even trust doctors you can't even trust that the doctor knows the job you go to the schools you can't even trust the teachers that they know their job I am saying to you that this criminality or whatever it is it goes across every sector do you understand the only thing is that the police there is a spotlight on them because you know of course because of their own style of job they do standing on the road and interacting with citizens but when you talk about the compromise in the system it cuts across there is really no system that you can say okay these people when they give you their word is their bond so I mean there is a lot happening right there is a lot happening the only thing that I am worried now is where we are as young people because just even after the elections a lot of young people were really disheartened and a lot of them relocated a lot of them left the country a lot of them are still living the country I mean if you go to the passport office across all immigration centers you will see a a massive number of young people trying to get an international passport just to leave this country so that is actually worrisome for me because if we continue to have this level of people wanting to leave the country because again they do not trust the system how do we even move away from some of these problems how do we move from it yes I get it that the toll since the massacre they have not been able to reopen it and hopefully they do not reopen it but it is beyond that I would like when I see that a government is looking and saying you know what guys these are these are concrete steps that have been taken you understand I would like to see our police in better state I would like to see our police a lot more what is called responsible you know being presented as respectable people in our society I mean the other day we took a story about how military person no not security person would begin to receive I mean their families would begin to receive some pension and I said that was a very welcomed idea because if I know that I would be taking care of I would do my job without looking back I think again it is so Nigeria's problem right it is not just so so N-SARS is a symptom it is not N-SARS in itself the entire system we need to go back to the root and like strip it one after the other because you see once we solve one problem it can automatically solve multiple problems that are existing because some of these things are just symptoms that we see I like that the idea of keeping the N-SARS conversations alive every year but beyond that beyond that I want to speak to the young people people organizing some of these memorials and all of those things we've done this thing it doesn't work it's like insanity they say is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result these are the things that we've done you've taken works you've protested you've gone to sit at the tour gate you can't do light work and all of those things it's not working I don't know what other solution that I feel that might be of better impact if there are suggestions I don't want to suggest anything because I don't want anybody to think that maybe I'm trying to pull really we need to understand that certain really tough decisions must be taken if we want to change the status quo of our country if not it's just going to be business as usual what would you think do you have any solution a solution for whom I don't know now they've done the stage work at the tour gate the idea behind in my opinion the idea behind the work one is a memorial and if it's something that is done every year to keep the conversation alive I think it's very welcomed and I think it's something and I think it's very nice to see that the energy is being encouraged even no matter how small the groups are becoming but it's very very important to keep that conversation going because it's very easy for us as Nigerians to just let things lie because we get tired of fighting we don't even have enough fighting energy do you understand so when we take that massive leap and nothing happens it kind of discourages and disarms a lot of people so I think it's very very important for us to keep the conversation going every year because that one thing that we did that 2020 started a big revolution in the minds of people and I think change is very very important to stand in the mind when there's a constant reminder that there's a need for change then this year there might be 20 next year might be the year that there will be a multitude but it's very very important for us to keep that conversation going because it brings to light our problems if we do not talk about our problems who will we go through this on a daily and it's continuing every day I get harassed by the police every day where I live now in the corner every day I literally had to make the decision not to give out anything as long as I have my papers correct and I have my driver's license if you want to keep me for 3 5 minutes 10 minutes I'll stay with you but it's just we just have to make certain difficult situations and one of it is get the right documents make sure you have these things when they request so that because not having the right documents and not having to write also give them room to push you and harass you but if you have the right thing I just sit down there and wait for them to turn it out when they go to the when they now ask you about your phone when they say you should open your phone I will never be put in that situation by God's grace because really there would have to be some information given for that to happen did you see the movie, the black book the one that Richard Mofedomidjo and his son was killed because again it was still profiling like literally but that was even literally a setup and that because of the fact that the wrong profiling so I wouldn't call that situation profiling it was they had profiled him you mean they profiled him to take the phone because they knew exactly what was happening of course now they profiled him because they saw his that he can fit man woman that person will look like a criminal I hope you know that on that note I think we ran out of time she was talking and we forgot that the time was going but thank you Angie I think we had a great conversation unlike your school of thought keep the conversation alive but really I'm just really hoping that we can find a lasting solution maybe keeping the conversation would be part of what would give the solution I'm hoping and praying that truly our country we have a great country we just need to have better leaders that's all alright we'll see you before we go and show you follow us across all our social media handles that way to Africa you can interact with us further drop a comment and most importantly follow all our engagements on social media like share and invite your families and friends to watch and follow the conversation if you missed today's quote here it is again it says I don't speak for hashtag and thus protest on what they do and what they are going to do but all I know is that they are not giving up I am so proud of them for that and this was from Aisha Yusefo we'll see you guys on Monday at 8pm live as we bring another great conversation to your screen have a beautiful weekend bye