By: Oluwadamilare Ajiboye and Bolaji Alade
The investigation by UCJ, UI, revealed that it is not a new thing for money to be shared in political meetings. It appears to be a political norm in all parts of the country. For Oyo state, the narrative is not in any way different.
Many of the #EndSARS participants who, in defense of the money collected, flaunted their experience at attending different political meetings confirmed that it is a normal thing for money to be given during meetings with the government, political parties, past or hopeful political leaders for any of these; logistic allowance, feeding allowance, thanks for coming allowance, sitting allowance, transportation allowance, and many more inexhaustible allowances.
A current political appointee in Oyo State who prefers to remain anonymous because no permission was given to speak with the Press also confirmed to UCJ, UI that it seems like a political culture for money to be given after high-class meetings with the government. The source stated that the money given to the #EndSARS representatives was not in any way conceived by the Seyi Makinde led government or any other dignitaries present at the meeting to buy them out or silence them from advancing the #EndSARS movement.
All the groups that were present at the meeting namely, Progressive Tradesmen And Artisans, National Youth Council of Nigeria Society, #EndSARS Group, Taxis And Micra Drivers Group, and the Acomoran Group, equally received the sum of one million naira as a token from the government for coming to the meeting.
Controversies surrounding the meeting and the money appear to be settling down, but one question that continues to linger is why receiving the money gained momentum in the first place since it was understood by all the participants of the meeting that the money was not a bribe but a gesture from the Oyo state government? UCJ, UI, looked into this also.
Why The Noise?
UCJ, UI has identified two possible reasons the controversies gathered so much momentum. One is the sensitivity of the #EndSARS movement, and the second tilted towards a political game.
On the first possible reason, it is not out of place for the public to come down heavily on the twenty-five participants with criticisms following the recent happenings in Oyo state and other parts of Nigeria. The country’s socio-political atmosphere has been gloomy ever since videos of brutal killings and harassment by officers of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) on Nigerians surfaced online.
Throughout the country, there is the belief that the #EndSARS movement has no leader or spokesperson, and no individual or group should present itself to the government as representatives or front-liners of the #EndSARS movement.
This idea of an acephalous movement has lived on in the minds of many #EndSARS protesters throughout Nigeria. It then came as a shock when the news broke that a group of Student leaders, Social media influencers, Community Organisers, and youths in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, met with the government as #EndSARS front-liners without anyone appointing them or even informing the public prior to the meeting. This cast aspersion to the dealings of the meeting and raise mixed reactions from the public.
Fueled first by the video made by Babayomi Kayode (Apostle Kay) suggesting that the participants have been bought out, second by the list of those who collected money made public by Adedeji Adekunle (Scholes) laying credence to the insinuation by Babayomi Kayode, third by the cancellation of a candle night slated for the same day and lastly by the scanty information available to the public, torrents of criticism began to flow in, and hundreds of people joined the train of criticism believing the story as it was portrayed.
To the second reason, it is not impossible that the controversies were fueled by politics in the Oyo state. UCJ, UI gathered that release of the list and the video might not be too far from being political. When asked, at least ten out of the twenty-five participants believed that the whole controversies had a political undertone.
One of the twenty-five participants who refused to be named for this purpose stated that it could have been political. “It could have been, who knows? Because I see no reason why they will decide to make the governor look bad when he listened, addressed, and made provisions to work on our agitations. It’s mere hypocrisy.”
Another participant who said he is a card-carrying member of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Oyo state, opined that the release of the list and the controversies the meeting gathered may not be unconnected to state politics and an attempt to also milk dirt on the current governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde the way the opposition, the People’s Democratic Party, milked dirt on the former governor of Oyo state, Late Sen. Abiola Ajimobi. And that it was merely unfortunate that some #EndSARS protesters were caught in the middle.
When UCJ, UI contacted Adedeji Adekunle (Scholes) and Babayomi Kayode (Apostle Kay) on the political undertone, both denied having released the list and the video to play politics.
Cancellation of The Candle Night: What Role Did The Forty Thousand Naira Meeting Allowance Play?
Those who have keenly followed the #EndSARS happenings in Oyo state would recall that on October 27, 2020, there was an arrangement for #ENDSARS candle night in honour of fallen heroes of the struggle. The Candle Night was, however, later shelved.
UCJ, UI, also beamed its searchlight on the issue to see if there is any correlation between the meeting with the government and the cancellation of the candle night.
The Candle Night initially fixed to hold by 6:30 pm was rescheduled to commence by 4 pm but didn’t take place as expected, and no public address was given to the effect of the cancellation.
This raised suspicion that the candle night was canceled after the representatives received money from the State government.
The investigation by UCJ, UI suggests that there may not be any correlation between the two events.
First, we reached out to the organisers of the candle night. Two of them agreed to speak to UCJ, UI, on the issue, and both independently confirmed that they never knew a meeting was ongoing with the government at the time of the cancellation of the candle night.
Uthman Adejumo, one of the organisers said it was unfortunate that the meeting coincided, but that there was no correlation between the two.
Explaining the reason for the cancellation, he stated that some people raised security issues about the candle night initially slated to happen between 6:30 pm and 8 pm. The organisers considered this and were trying to avoid a repetition of what happened at Lekki on October 20, 2020, so the event was moved to 4 pm.
He explained further that when they got there, and the people were starting to gather around for the event, men of the Nigerian Army showed up in about ten Hilux vans. In his words, “Though they said they were patrolling, you could tell that the military men knew that the candle night was going to happen. They didn’t stop us or do anything, but with the recent experience in Lekki, everyone wanted to be security conscious. So, we just did the little we could do, and we left.

He spoke further, “It was later on that we found out that some people were in a meeting with the government. And even when we found out and saw the resolutions of the meeting, we could see that there was no mention of any candle night at the meeting with the government, let alone canceling it.”
UCJ, UI, also contacted some of the #EndSARS front-liners at the meeting with the government. Asides from Akeju Olusegun and Ishola Temitope (Temmy Gista) who acknowledged knowing about the candle night, others stated that they never heard or knew about the candle night until being asked by UCJ, UI. A check on the social media handles of some of the participants, which are often used to publicise events like these also showed no mention of the candle night on the night of the meeting.
At this juncture, it appears that, to many of the front-liners at the meeting with the government, the culture of selflessness projected at the heat of the #EndSARS movement suddenly went on vacation. Perhaps it was just a mask worn by many.
Without a doubt, rejecting the whole money was the least the #EndSARS representatives could have done to make a statement that selflessness is their hallmark as a new class of political actors. More painful is that their action is conceived, and rightly so, as a betrayal of some of the issues the #EndSARS movement stands for and fought against, particularly the call for a drastic cut in the cost of governance, mismanagement of public funds, and many other traditional political misconduct in Nigeria.
Bearing in mind the state’s financial capacity and the state of youths’ unemployment, it appears to be an unforgivable betrayal of the youth’s population. It is even more worrisome to think these individuals unreservedly pocketed forty thousand Naira (N40,000) for a meeting in which the main discussion barely lasted three hours.
The argument that the decision to accept the money was personal and an exercise of an individual’s discretion does not hold water for long, if it even does at all. Such an argument is as good as using it to justify collecting bribes from the government.
For the peddlers of such an argument, it is important to imbibe the understanding that personal interest or discretion is not to be found in a situation that has public colouration. The #EndSARS movement has always enjoyed public support because of the selflessness of everyone fighting for a better Nigeria. It went from being a single tweet of video showcasing police brutality to become the largest youth movement in Nigeria because everyone understood that it takes more than just It is, therefore, for the lack of the proper word, foolhardy for a group of influencers to call themselves into a meeting with the government, summarise the demands of the #EndSARS protest and pocket forty thousand naira each without blinking.
Like the unanswered question of who ordered the Lekki Massacre, the public and families of the #EndSARS victims would continue to ask these participants who made them leaders of the protest and gave them the power to enter talks with the government. If they didn’t do anything, they succeeded in tainting the glamour and sincerity of the #EndSARS movement. And the youths shall always remember this.