Nigerian rapper, actor, and activist Falz recently revisited the pivotal moment he recognized the magnitude of the 2020 #ENDSARS protest against police brutality. In an interview with media personality Chude Jideonwo on the With Chude podcast, Falz expressed his surprise at the level of engagement and support the movement garnered.
“I don’t think anyone saw the numbers coming. I don’t think anyone imagined it or could have imagined that it would have been so crazy, but it was super exciting to see,” he shared. Falz emphasized that the protests were fueled by a collective outrage over the continuous harassment, torture, and extortion faced by citizens at the hands of law enforcement—those meant to protect them.
He recalled the early days of the movement, where he and fellow artist Runtown took the lead in organizing protests. Falz explained that it all began with a tweet from Runtown about a planned protest, which immediately resonated with him. “So I spoke to him and said, ‘Let’s ginger this thing together; it has to happen,'” Falz recounted.
When he tweeted about the protest, he expected only 50 to 100 attendees, but to his astonishment, the entire stretch of Ozumba Mbadiwe was filled with demonstrators on that first day. “It was then that I realized that what we had started was something,” he reflected.
Falz’s experience illustrates the grassroots mobilization and collective action that characterized the #ENDSARS protests, marking a significant moment in Nigeria’s socio-political landscape. He stressed that it was at that moment he understood the protests would leave a lasting impact and be remembered as a historic event.