#EndSARS protests: ‘I felt I was going to die there’

One week after the Nigerian armed forces shot peaceful anti-police brutality #EndSARS protesters in Lagos, Ephraim, a British-Nigerian activist at the heart of the protests said “I felt I was going to die there.”

Ephraim is from London but moved to Nigeria to start a business. He joined the #EndSARS protests against police brutality. 

“I’m yet to process what I’ve lived through in the past three days and I don’t know what I feel. The one thing I know is the truth has to be told.”

He was there when the shooting began.

He was injured by glass and went to hospital with his friends.

“Whilst we were there, Wednesday morning, trying to sort out care for people, more people arrived in the hospital with gunshot wounds. There was a teenage boy who couldn’t be anything more than 13. His arm was blown out.”

Ephraim is shocked by state of affairs in his home country but remains hopeful for the future.

“I was very young when I started hearing in Nigeria, the youth are leaders of tomorrow. It seems that tomorrow just never comes’ because it’s the same set of people.”

“What’s next for #EndSARS protests, at this point, I think it’s about respecting the sacrifices of those who’ve gone and trying to find a way we don’t lose any more lives.”

But the dream isn’t over for Nigeria. “Never” he says. 

“This is home to 200 million people and those lives have to mean something. And those lives don’t have to spend their days in squalor as a lot of people do,” Ephraim added.