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Framing injustice : Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) in Nigeria and the #EndSARS’ protest response from a social movement theory perspective

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Date
13/12/2022
Author
Omeni, Akali
Keywords
Social movement theory
Framing
Nigeria Police Force
EndSARS
SARS
Anti-Robbery
Protest
JZ International relations
E
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Abstract
This paper employs Social Movement Theory (SMT) to examine collective action mobilization against malfeasance by Nigeria’s Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS). Created in the 1990s to counter violent armed robberies, SARS gradually derailed and became discredited. Finally, in October 2020, after weeks of public protest, the unit was disbanded. The #EndSARS movement proved instrumental to that outcome. This article explores the origins, nature and decline of SARS until the #EndSARS protests. #EndSARS emerged as a rare instance of a social movement that provoked police reform in Nigeria. Furthermore, whereas social media has dominated the discourse on the protesters’ agency, I employ framing theory as a sub-set of SMT to show that #EndSARS employed diagnostic, prognostic and motivational frames, within “injustice” master frames, towards collective action mobilization. In conducting this analysis, I situate the #EndSARS case within the broader literature debate on impactful protests against police brutality.
Citation
Omeni , A 2022 , ' Framing injustice : Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) in Nigeria and the #EndSARS’ protest response from a social movement theory perspective ' , Modern Africa , vol. 10 , no. 2 , pp. 9-32 . https://doi.org/10.26806/modafr.v10i2.409
Publication
Modern Africa
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26806/modafr.v10i2.409
ISSN
2336-3274
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2022 the Author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/26588

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