#EndSARS protests lasted too long – Williams Uchemba

On the heels of the # EndSARS protests , actor , Williams Uchemba , has questioned the decision by celebrities and youths to continue demonstrations after the government acknowledged the demands of the protesters and proceeded to disband the dreaded Special Anti - Robbery Squad .

The protest in Lekki , Lagos State , which was notable for having many celebrities in attendance , took a bloody turn on Tuesday evening , with soldiers shooting no fewer than 15 protesters dead and injuring many others . The state government had announced a 24 - hour curfew earlier that day , which was to take effect at 4 pm, but was later moved to 9 pm .

Uchemba told Sunday Scoop that while the protest had begun to derail , many stars were pressured into supporting the anti -police brutality movement by only posting content on social media that was relevant to the protest .

He said , “ It is about control . That is why you have brakes in your car. It is to know when to stop or slow down , and when to accelerate . At a point , the protests got out of control . They started doing parties at the toll gate . We were all asking for the same thing – basic amenities .

“ I know , constitutionally , you cannot use curfews to stop a protest . But maybe , we could have tried to work with the government just for that day . There was peer pressure on most of my colleagues . I know some of them that were pressurised to go out on the streets , even when the government had given us airtime . The pressure was more from the fans . ”

The actor also noted that for the first time , government responded promptly to the public ’ s demands . He added that due to attention it got, Nigerians were updated about every step that was taken . He said , “ We had it at some point and I was telling people that the climax of the protest would have been the candlelight vigil . The next day should have been about strategy . It should have been about ‘ what is the next thing? Now, we have those people where we want them . ’

“ Because we already had that , we should have just not overshot . We should have waited for them to completely implement everything we were asking for regarding police brutality . They met us halfway on the # 5 for 5 demands . ”