Thread by @purefoyAMEBO

#Nigeria military shooting #EndSARS protesters in Lekki — one of few thriving hubs for middle class — signals the government not only doesn’t care for “middle class” democratic and economic aspirations/struggles but actively sees them as a threat

For anyone who might not understand the context of what just happened:

In last few decades, #Lekki had become one of few thriving hubs for middle class in #Nigeria. Where the potential for Nigeria’s democratic economy transformed an empty sandy peninsula. I know so many who moved there, could afford a place of aspiration there to setup their startup

The economic fall out of recent oil price crashes, the global coronavirus lockdown, and all the internal long term economic obstacles has put this middle class under enormous pressure

But so too the national government which has few places to turn for cash and so, instead of supporting them, they have targeted this middle class haven by printing money, raiding pensions, tax, new discriminatory laws, etc. SARS itself even.

And now this shooting of #EndSARS protesters in Lekki. I sincerely hope it is not, but the symbolism tonight is of a government brutally signalling an end to the aspirations that democracy, globalisation and the internet promised Nigerians.