Policing Died at Lekki — Hakeem Baba-Ahmed Says Nigeria Has Learned Nothing From EndSARS

The National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has said Nigeria has made little progress in addressing the issues that led to the #EndSARS protests, six years after the Lekki Toll Gate shootings. Baba-Ahmed made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday, October 20, 2026.

Asked about the developments since the protests, the PRP chairman gave a blunt assessment of the country’s response, saying that little had changed beyond the abolition of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). “No. Sadly, no. We’ve done nothing, absolutely beyond abolishing SARS. We’ve done nothing,” Baba-Ahmed said.

He argued that the events at the Lekki Toll Gate had dealt a serious blow to public confidence in policing as an institution, describing the incident as a turning point for law enforcement in Nigeria. “Policing died at Lekki,” he declared.

Explaining his statement, Baba-Ahmed said policing was not merely about enforcing laws but also about maintaining an institution that regulates conduct and ensures justice. “Policing as an institution, as an idea, the idea that you can have a state institution that enforces the law, regulates it, makes sure that justice is done, is policing, died,” he said.

He added that many Nigerians had yet to fully understand the significance of what happened during the protests and its implications for the country’s policing system. “People don’t seem to understand that,” he stated.

Baba-Ahmed further argued that the protests exposed what he described as the weaknesses of Nigeria’s policing system and the leadership responsible for overseeing it. “It showed its final teeth. Young people exposed it for what it was, put up with,” he said.

Reflecting on what he considered the outcome of the protests, the PRP chairman said the incident revealed the ineffectiveness of the policing system and what he described as corrupt and inept leadership. “So if anything good came out of the end-SARS protest six years ago, it was simply that it showed how ineffective the policing system and I corrupt leadership, inept leadership was,” Baba-Ahmed said.

He also recalled the political atmosphere in 2020, when Muhammadu Buhari was president, arguing that many Nigerians did not initially view the protests as a national concern. “Six years ago, President Buhari was the president. Most of the country sat back and watched, they thought this is a Lagos matter. This is all about Lagos, this is about fringe activists, people smoking weed and everything,” he said.

He maintained that the consequences of the incident extended beyond the protesters who gathered at the toll gate, affecting the hopes and expectations of Nigerians who wanted a better country. “It really was our hopes and our dreams that died. The Nigeria police is a Nigeria police, it wasn’t a Lagos police,” he said.