Thread by @KolaOyeneyin

#EndSARS - Leaders, Leadership & Authority

One of the most beautiful things about the protests that have broken out across Nig in the last 10 days is its decentralized and “leaderless” nature. As someone who keenly observed from its day 1 and joined a march on day 3, I stan!

Those that follow me closely also know that I’ve been very vocal about the incredible examples laid by the “uncoordinated coordination” of young people across Nigeria. I’ve also shared thoughts on how it could be sustained. At other times I sent warnings on #EndSARS blind spots.

Now, I’m here to discuss the controversial topic of leaders or no leaders. Please hear me well, you have leaders! You know you have leaders, I know you do, the media, NG army, DSS, Police, Governors and even the president knows that you have leaders. #EndSARS

The quicker you accept that fact, the harder it becomes to hijack #EndSARS . While the protests don’t seem to have one single nationwide arrowhead (leader), there are many people who have been exercising leasership across the entire nation. I know at at least 40.

I’ve been in this denial before; it gets to a point where it jeopardizes a worthy cause. My Friends who are reading this know what happened when my other good friends from the State Security Service showed up at my office, and I had to visit their office for half a day. #EndSARS

Even though I said I was not a leader/rep, I was the one they came for. When I was younger, I usually got flogged for playing football. At a point, I knew I was going to get flogged if I played for 2mins or 2hrs, so I decided to always play for 5hrs; same flogging. #EndSARS

The moral of that is, you’re already marked. Your name is already in the book of the nation, as govt properties. You might as well start to actually start to stir the mission on the right path before they name it what’s it’s not. Instead of being in denial & jeopardizing #EndSARS

While you don’t have formal titles, you amazing people have acquired informal authorities. Young & old Nigerians have seen you rise up to the occasion like we’ve not seen in a long time. We may not call you leaders, there’s no doubt that you’ve exercised leadership. #EndSARS

In a nation where people who have been elected or appointed to leadership positions often fail to demonstrate any of leadership, we’ve seen those we didn’t vote for or directly appoint showing how leadership should be dispensed. There’s a lot of lessons to learn here. #EndSARS

People often think that until they assume a formal position, they’re not leaders. This is not so. Leadership is a service, and as long as you continue to be in the business of providing that service, position or not, people authorized you. In contrast, an elected

#EndSARS

official or appointed CEO could be deauthorized, if they don’t provide the leadership service that people expect. Even though they remain in position; many examples in Nig.

While I agree that #EndSARS should remain without one arrowhead, and there are many pros to that.

One of the main services that the current authorized individuals could start to provide, is ensure that the efforts of the last few days are not wasted. There are ways to ensure this, and I’ll share on “Avoiding the Stillborn of #EndSARS” tomorrow.

Goodnight and God bless