I feel proud of the role we all played in the #EndSARS movement. While a large focus on police brutality centers on young men, women are also victims of sexual violence at the hands of SARS and the Nigerian police in general.

The fight of queer #EndSARS protesters in Nigeria could provide the impetus for Black LGBTQ+ activists in the U.S.

Queer and trans Nigerians’ fight to have the #EndSARS movement recognize their trials and mirrors the fight for Black LGBTQ+ people to gain visibility within the mainstream Black Lives Matter movement in the States. 

The lifes of queer and trans people in Nigeria has been under the specter of police violence. Earlier this year, police raided a Lagos Hotel and arrested some men on the mere suspicion of being gay. Similar police raids are conducted all over Nigeria on gay men and lesbian women. Since 2014 when the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act was signed into law, police violence against queer and trans people has skyrocketed. 

On Oct. 3 a young fellow was robbed of his life in Ughelli, a town in southeastern Nigeria. He was killed for the dangerous crime of driving a Lexus. Two days later, SARS forces shot and killed Daniel Chibuke, a 20-year-old upcoming rapper, for daring to sit near a hotel with a friend. young masculine men and certain people are targeted by police for the most frivolous minutiae, such as being perceived to be gay or driving a car with the radio too loud. Basic things that people can do without a second thought can endanger a young Nigerian's life.....this is what gave birth to the endsars campaign