The EndSARS protest first began as a social movement that called for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuses.

From its inception in 2017, the movement gathered about 28 million tweets with the hashtag #ENDSARS on Twitter alone.

In October 2020, the movement started a series of mass protests throughout the major cities of Nigeria, accompanied by vociferous outrage on social media platforms and massive support from Nigerians in the diaspora and foreign bodies likewise.

On October 20, 2020, at around 4.00 pm WAT, images of some persons alleged to be working with the Lagos State government and the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) were seen removing cameras at the toll gate. A few hours later, at around 6.30 pm, it was reported that armed men of the Nigerian Army arrived at the Lekki Tollgate and opened fire on peaceful and unarmed protesters, thereby resulting in a disputed number of deaths.

Feminist Coalition

The Feminist Coalition Group, formed in July 2020 aided largely to the organized funding of the End SARS protest.

Within seven days of organizing around the movement, Feminist Coalition was able to fund over 154 protests around Nigeria with N20,188,280 (approximately $52,000), and by October 21 it raised a total of N77,190,305 (approximately $198,000). From October 9 to October 22, group disbursed N60.4 million – funds meant for medical bills, legal aids, and other necessary supports for people protesting against police brutality.

A Daily Summary Of Amount Received and Disbursed By The Feminist Coalition From October 9 To October 20, 2020.

Federal Government Suspends Feminist Coalition Accounts

On Tuesday October 13, 2020, Feminist Coalition announced via Twitter that its bank account had been deactivated by the Nigerian government.

“For demanding an end to police brutality we are now under attack,

“Our bank account has been deactivated and so has the Flutterwave donation link. Our members’ lives are also being threatened!”

Feminist Coalition Continue Fund Raising Through Cryptocurrency

Feminist Coalition continued fundraising but now through cryptocurrency. The group raised about 9.9 Bitcoins.

Bitcoin, at the time was traded at $12,887.81 with a daily volume of $27 Billion.

Jack Dorsey’s Support

On October 14, 2020, Jack Dorsey, the Chief executive of Twitter joined the push aimed at disbanding the Special Anti-Robbery (SARS) and putting an end to police brutality in Nigeria.

Jack endorsed the donations via Bitcoin in support of the protest.

Independent Voluntary Donations

The protests were also sustained by voluntary donations made by Nigerian citizens and the international community. There were independent voluntary donations of food items, water and professional services by lawyers and doctors for protesters. Donations also came from local tech start-ups companies.