Of late, police brutality has been on the rise. Many countries across the globe have reported complaints of police violence on civilians. Police violence is a culture that began back in the pre-colonial times when whites discriminated against the blacks. To date, Nigerians commemorate an incident that happened back in 1949, which left a tremendous impact.
The Massacre
It was on 18th November 1949 when tragedy befell a village in Nigeria. On that day, Godwin Aniagbo, who back then was a teenager, recalls hearing the sound of ikoro. In Nigeria, when ikoro was sounded in the afternoon, that meant trouble. An ikoro is a giant hollow wooden drum carved from the dense ikoro tree.
Earlier that day, when Mr. Aniagbo was on his way home from school, together with his friends, they met colonial police officers. They were about six soldiers. Aniagbo and his friends sensed there was trouble from their expression, especially as they were sitting on the railway with their riffles held up high. So they took off when the officers called them.
“I saw the Europeans, about six of them sitting in the railway line with their rifles in the center of the railway. They called us to come to them, but we were afraid and ran away,” the old man told BBC as he cast his mind back to his early days.
Tensions had also escalated in the region the previous days as the mines’ African workers were holding protests. The protests were attributable to the poor working conditions in Iva valley and the low pay. Therefore, on that day, when the miners refused to stop the protests, the colonial police began shooting at them.
Mr. Aniagbo narrates that when he arrived home that day, he heard unending sounds of gunshots in the city of Enugu. Curious to know what was happening in the valley, he set off. However, before he could reach the mines, people were running helter-skelter. Some had sustained injuries, and others were wailing; the situation was a melee.
On that day, the colonial soldiers, who comprised both Africans and Europeans, killed at least 21 miners and injured scores.
Why Is the Massacre a Resonance
The 1949 massacre is similar to last year’s Tragedy involving police brutality in Nigeria. Despite decades of independence, police still live to brutalize civilians. Some reports argue that policing has retained this culture from the colonial past. Last year, protests escalated in Nigeria as demonstrators demanded the government ban SARS, a special anti-robbery unit. The SARS, for a long time, had been abusing their powers at the expense of the civilians.
Masses alleged that this group was responsible for torture, corruption, extrajudicial killings, and all forms of barbaric acts in the country. However, amid the peaceful demonstrations in Lagos’ Lekki toll gate, police forces began shooting at the crowd. Nonetheless, the protest, which was dominated by young people, successfully called for the disbandment of SARS. This incident is quite similar to the 1949 incident. On both occasions, the demonstrations were peaceful though met with brute force. Even though authorities denied killing the protestors, Amnesty International confirmed the death of ten people.
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