This is a list of protests in Nigeria, from the colonial rule to present day.
Year | Day | Name | People | Location | Notes | Image |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1929 | 6 December | Aba Women's Riot |
| Eastern Nigeria | The women protested against tax levies imposed by the colonial government. It led to the death of many of the women. [1] | |
1947 | 27 November | Abeokuta Women's Revolt |
| Alake's Palace, Abeokuta | The women protested against an unfair tax regime which led to the abdication of the then Alake of Egbaland, Oba Sir Ladapo Ademola II and the abolition of the tax regime by the colonial government. [1] | |
1978 | 17 April | Ali Must Go | Universities nationwide | A 50 kobo increase in student fees sparked the protests. [2] | ||
1989 | 24 May - June | Anti-SAP riots | Universities nationwide | The protests occurred as a result of the effects of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-imposed Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) introduced by the Ibrahim Babangida-led government. [3] | ||
1993 | June 12 Protests |
| South West Nigeria | The protests occurred as an aftermath of the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential elections by Ibrahim Babangida. [4] | ||
2012 | 2-14 January | Occupy Nigeria |
| Nigeria (including the diaspora) | Nigerians protested against the removal of fuel subsidies and eventual price hikes by the Goodluck Jonathan government. It led to the reinstatement of the subsidy and a review of the Federal Government spending. [5] [6] | |
2020 | End SARS |
| Nigeria (including the diaspora) | The protests are against police brutality meted out by a now-defunct specialised police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). [7] A memorial protest was held on 20 October 2021 to mark the first anniversary of the October 2020 Lekki toll gate shooting. [8] | ||
Muhammadu Buhari is a Nigerian statesman who served as the president of Nigeria from 2015 to 2023. A retired Nigerian Army major general, he served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985, after taking power from the Shehu Shagari civilian government in a military coup d'état. The term Buharism is used to describe the authoritarian policies of his military regime.
Anarchism in Nigeria has its roots in the organization of various stateless societies that inhabited pre-colonial Nigeria, particularly among the Igbo people. After the British colonization of Nigeria, revolutionary syndicalism became a key factor in the anti-colonial resistance, although the trade union movement deradicalized and took a more reformist approach following the country's independence. The contemporary Nigerian anarchist movement finally emerged from the left-wing opposition to the military dictatorship in the late 1980s and saw the creation of the Awareness League.
Innocent Ujah Idibia MON, known by his stage name 2Baba and formerly as 2face Idibia, is a Nigerian singer-songwriter, record producer and philanthropist known for his solo debut album, Face 2 Face. He is regarded as the "most influential" in the Nigerian music industry following his contributions to Nigerian pop music in the 2000s.
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Occupy Nigeria was a socio-political protest movement that began in Nigeria on Monday, 2 January 2012 in response to the fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government of President Goodluck Jonathan on Sunday, 1 January 2012. Protests took place across the country, including in the cities of Kano, Surulere, Ojota, Abuja, Minna, and at the Nigerian High Commission in London. The protests have been characterised by civil disobedience, civil resistance, strike actions, demonstrations and online activism. The use of social media services such as Twitter and Facebook was a prominent feature of the protests. Post Occupy Nigeria and 2015, the Nigerian Government under the new president, Muhammadu Buhari have increased fuel prices from N87 to N145 with little resistant possibly due to the fact that Nigerians are beginning to realize that fuel subsidies are actually inimical to the country's growth rather than a mechanism towards helping the poor.
End SARS, widely written as #EndSARS, was a decentralised social movement and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria that mainly occurred in 2020. The movement's slogan called for the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police known for its long record of abuse against Nigerian citizens. The protests originated from a Twitter campaign in 2017, using the hashtag #EndSARS to demand the unit's disbandment by the Nigerian government. The movement experienced a resurgence in October 2020 following further revelations of the unit's abuses, leading to mass demonstrations across major cities in Nigeria, and widespread outrage on social media platforms. The hashtag #EndSARS accumulated over 28 million tweets on Twitter alone. Solidarity protests and demonstrations by Nigerians in the diaspora and sympathizers occurred in many major cities around the world. Notably, the movement was predominantly led by young Nigerians and expanded to include demands for good governance and accountability, amidst unprecedented hardship in the country.
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The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was a Nigerian Police Force unit created in late 1992 to deal with crimes associated with robbery, motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and firearms. It was part of the Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (FCIID), headed by the then Deputy Inspector General of Police Anthony Ogbizi.
Aisha Somtochukwu Yesufu, is a Nigerian political activist and businesswoman. She co-founded the #BringBackOurGirls movement, which brought attention to the abduction of over 200 girls from a secondary school in Chibok, Nigeria on the 14th of April, 2014, by the terrorist group Boko Haram. She has also been prominently involved in the End SARS movement against police brutality in Nigeria.
On the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 p.m., members of the Nigerian Army opened fire on unarmed End SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos State, Nigeria. Amnesty International stated that at least 12 protesters were killed during the shooting. A day after the incident, on 21 October, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu, denied reports of any loss of lives, but later admitted in an interview with a CNN journalist that "only two persons were killed".
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The following is a list of events in 2021 in Nigeria.
The 1978 Ali Must Go Protests or the 1978 students' crisis were student protests in Nigeria following an increase in fees. It has been described as one of the most violent student agitations in Nigeria and sparked the greatest political crisis of the 1975–1979 Mohammed/Obasanjo military administration.
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Odunayo Eweniyi is a Nigerian business executive and activist. She is the Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer PiggyVest and co-founder of Feminist Coalition.
The 2021 EndSARS memorial protest Was a protest carried out by Nigerians and End SARS activist to mark the one year anniversary of the Lekki toll gate shooting which took place on 20 October, 2020.