Six years after the #EndSARS protests forced Nigeria into one of its most important national conversations about policing, the Lekki Toll Gate became a symbol again.
On 20 October 2026, police officers fired teargas at people gathered at the toll gate for a memorial marking the anniversary of the 2020 protests. Reports by Premium Times and PUNCH said residents, journalists and political figures were among those dispersed before a planned wreath-laying ceremony could proceed.
The immediate incident deserves a clear official explanation. Police authorities should state the operational basis for dispersing the gathering, what threat assessment was made, what instructions officers received and why teargas was considered necessary.
But the more important FridayPosts question is larger than one morning at Lekki.
Six years after Nigerians demanded an end to brutality, extortion, arbitrary detention and impunity, has policing actually changed?
The answer is neither a simple yes nor a simple no.
There have been legal and institutional reforms. Victims have received compensation through investigative panels. The Nigeria Police Force says training, complaint mechanisms and rights-based operational frameworks are being strengthened. New police regulations were gazetted in 2026 to move provisions of the Police Act from statute into operational rules.
Yet the persistence of public complaints, distrust and confrontation around peaceful civic activity suggests that reform on paper has not fully become reform in practice.
#EndSARS was never only about SARS
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad became the immediate target of the 2020 protests because of widespread allegations of extortion, torture, unlawful detention and extrajudicial abuse.
But the movement quickly became a broader demand for accountable policing.
Disbanding SARS could remove a unit.
It could not automatically remove the incentives, habits, training gaps and weak accountability systems that allowed abuse to occur.
That distinction remains important today.
Nigeria can rename or restructure tactical units and still reproduce the same problems if recruitment, supervision, welfare, investigation, discipline and public oversight do not change.
Institutional reform is not a press release.
It is what an officer does on a roadside at 11 p.m. when no senior officer is watching.
There has been real movement since 2020
It would be inaccurate to say nothing has changed.
The Nigeria Police Act 2020 created a stronger legal framework around arrest, detention, suspects' rights and police responsibilities.
The National Human Rights Commission and judicial or investigative panels examined complaints and awarded compensation to some victims of police abuse. The NHRC has reported payments and awards running into hundreds of millions of naira across petitions involving extrajudicial killings, torture, harassment and other violations.
The police have retained and strengthened complaint channels, including the Complaint Response Unit and internal accountability mechanisms.
In 2026, the Inspector-General of Police publicly committed to stronger accountability, improved training manuals and human-rights compliance. The Force also received gazetted police regulations intended to bridge the gap between the Police Act and day-to-day operations.
Those are not imaginary reforms.
The question is whether they have changed the citizen's ordinary encounter with the police.
A reform scorecard should separate laws from outcomes
Nigeria often evaluates reform by counting committees, policies and workshops.
Citizens evaluate reform differently.
Has the frequency of unlawful arrest declined?
Are officers disciplined transparently when they assault citizens?
Can a motorist refuse an illegal demand without fearing retaliation?
Can a young person carry a laptop without being treated as a suspected fraudster?
Can people assemble peacefully without unnecessary force?
Do police stations provide access to legal representation and notify families after arrest?
Are torture and coercive interrogation genuinely declining?
These are outcome questions.
A six-year #EndSARS scorecard should therefore have at least four columns: completed reforms, partially implemented reforms, unresolved reforms and reforms for which evidence is not publicly available.
Without that discipline, both government and critics can select the facts that support the story they prefer.
Compensation matters, but compensation is not accountability
Payments to victims are important.
A person unlawfully detained, injured or bereaved by state misconduct deserves remedy.
The NHRC's compensation awards demonstrated that some claims were taken seriously and that the state accepted responsibility in particular cases.
But compensation alone is incomplete.
If public money pays a victim while the responsible officer faces no professional or criminal consequence, the deterrent effect is weak.
The public is effectively paying for the misconduct.
Real accountability should ask what happened to the officer, commander or unit involved.
Was there an internal investigation?
Was anyone suspended, dismissed or prosecuted?
Were lessons incorporated into training?
Did the same type of complaint happen again?
The strongest policing system is not one that pays many claims. It is one that reduces the need for claims.
Police welfare is part of human-rights reform
It is possible to demand stronger police accountability while also recognising the conditions under which officers work.
Poorly equipped officers are expected to manage armed crime, public disorder, traffic, domestic disputes and complex investigations.
Some police facilities are inadequate.
Welfare, housing, insurance, vehicles, forensic tools and training affect behaviour.
An officer who depends informally on citizens to fund basic operational costs is placed inside a structure that can encourage extortion.
This does not excuse abuse.
It explains why disciplinary reform without financial and operational reform may fail.
Nigeria needs a police force that is both better funded and more accountable.
The two objectives support each other.
The 2026 regulations could matter if they become real
The Nigeria Police Force said the newly gazetted regulations provide a framework for professional, accountable and rights-based policing and would be integrated into training and operational practice.
That is potentially significant.
For years, reform advocates have complained about the gap between modern legislation and inherited policing procedures.
Rules matter because they clarify what supervisors must enforce and what officers are expected to do.
But regulations have value only when officers know them and citizens can invoke them.
Every command should be able to show how the rules have changed training, station procedures, arrest documentation, detention conditions, public-order management and disciplinary processes.
Implementation should be measurable.
Public-order policing remains the most visible test
The Lekki memorial incident matters because policing of assemblies was one of the defining issues of 2020.
A democratic police service has to balance public order with constitutional rights.
That is not always easy.
Large gatherings can create traffic, security and safety concerns. Officers have a legitimate responsibility to prevent violence and protect participants and other members of the public.
But use of force should be necessary, proportionate and accountable.
The default approach to a peaceful memorial should not be confrontation.
Police should communicate conditions, engage organisers, define routes where needed and use graduated responses.
Teargas is not a neutral communication tool.
Its use should have a clear operational justification.
Police need a published use-of-force accountability system
Nigeria should move towards routine public reporting on police use of force.
How many incidents involved firearms?
How many involved teargas or other crowd-control tools?
How many people were injured?
How many officers were disciplined for excessive force?
How many internal investigations were completed?
Modern policing requires data.
Without data, reform becomes anecdotal.
Police leaders can point to successful operations. Citizens can point to viral videos. Neither side has a complete picture.
A national use-of-force database would allow patterns to be identified and commands compared.
Complaint systems must become easier to trust
The Police Complaint Response Unit is an important mechanism.
But a complaint system works only when citizens believe reporting will not expose them to retaliation and will produce a result.
The Force should publish regular statistics.
How many complaints were received?
What categories were most common?
How many were substantiated?
How many resulted in discipline?
How long did resolution take?
What happened to serious criminal allegations?
Transparency would make the system more credible.
It would also allow police leadership to identify problem units or locations.
Technology can improve accountability, but not by itself
Body-worn cameras, digital station records, vehicle tracking and electronic case-management systems can reduce disputes about what happened.
They can also improve supervision.
But technology is not magic.
A body camera that can be switched off without consequence does little.
A digital complaint system that receives reports but does not trigger investigation is merely a better-looking inbox.
Technology must be tied to policy, audit and discipline.
Nigeria should prioritise systems that create verifiable records of arrests, detention, evidence handling and use of force.
Police training must change behaviour under pressure
Human-rights training is often treated as a classroom exercise.
The real question is whether an officer remembers the training while facing an angry crowd, suspected criminal or uncooperative driver.
Scenario-based training is more useful.
Officers should practise de-escalation, crowd management, lawful search, detention procedure, interview technique and response to provocation.
Supervisors should be assessed on how their teams apply those standards.
A culture changes when expectations are repeated in training, reinforced by leaders and backed by consequences.
Oversight should not depend mainly on police investigating police
Internal discipline is necessary because no outside body can supervise every incident.
But serious misconduct also needs credible external oversight.
The National Human Rights Commission, Police Service Commission, courts and civil society all have roles.
Nigeria should clarify which institution receives which complaint, what powers each body has and how recommendations become enforceable outcomes.
Citizens should not have to navigate a maze of agencies.
For serious allegations, independence is particularly important.
The unresolved issue of the 2020 recommendations still matters
Panels established after #EndSARS produced recommendations around compensation, prosecution, welfare, training, institutional reform and justice for victims.
Some recommendations were implemented.
Others remain difficult to track.
Nigeria needs a consolidated national status report.
Which state panels completed work?
How much compensation was recommended?
How much was paid?
How many officers were referred for prosecution?
What happened to those referrals?
Which operational reforms were adopted?
The lack of a single public accountability tracker allows reform commitments to fade with time.
FridayPosts would argue that six years is long enough for government to provide a definitive implementation record.
Citizens also have responsibilities during public demonstrations
A rights-based analysis should not pretend that public gatherings never create risks.
Organisers have responsibilities to communicate plans, discourage violence and cooperate with lawful safety arrangements.
Participants should respect the rights of other citizens.
Political actors should not exploit memorials to provoke confrontation.
But these obligations do not remove the state's higher duty.
The police carry weapons and legal authority.
That power requires greater restraint, documentation and accountability.
Trust is the final measure
Police reform ultimately depends on legitimacy.
Citizens are more likely to report crime, share intelligence and obey lawful instructions when they trust the police.
Officers are safer when communities cooperate.
Distrust harms both sides.
Nigeria can buy more vehicles, build more stations and pass more rules, but if citizens expect humiliation or extortion at every encounter, policing remains weak.
This is why seemingly small incidents matter.
A checkpoint interaction can strengthen or damage legitimacy.
A peaceful protest handled professionally can build trust.
An unnecessary confrontation can reopen old wounds.
Has Nigerian policing changed?
Yes, in some important ways.
The legal framework is stronger.
Compensation has been paid in some cases.
Complaint and reform structures exist.
New regulations and training reforms are being introduced.
Police leadership publicly speaks more frequently about accountability and human rights.
But the harder answer is that institutional change remains incomplete.
The 20 October memorial incident is not proof that every reform failed.
It is evidence that the central #EndSARS question is still alive: can Nigerian policing maintain public order without treating citizens exercising lawful rights as a threat?
Six years after 2020, Nigeria should no longer measure progress by promises.
It should measure it by behaviour, data, accountability and public trust.
That is the reform citizens were asking for in the first place.
Sources and further reading
- Premium Times, 20 October 2026: Police fire teargas to disperse #EndSARS memorial
- Nigeria Police Force, April 2026: accountability commitments and engagement with civil society
- Nigeria Police Force, April 2026: gazetted Police Regulations and implementation
- National Human Rights Commission: compensation awards arising from SARS/police-brutality petitions
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