Signing AfCFTA could present new security threats for Nigeria – IGP

Under Section 40 of the Nigerian Constitution, every person is entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons. On 20 October 2021, some Nigerians will be doing exactly that in commemoration of the anniversary of the violent crackdown on peaceful #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki tollgate.

Guatemalan riot police are deployed as former soldiers storm the rear area of Congress on and torch several vehicles in protest over unpaid compensation for their service during the country's civil war from 1960 to 1996.

One year later, Eti-Inyene Godwin Akpan, a photojournalist who went out to document the #ENDSARS protest of 20 October 2020, shares his story and encounter with Nigeria's secret police, the Department of State Services.⁣⁣

One year after security forces violently suppressed mass protests against police brutality and bad governance, Nigeria's continued to demand better policing and governance for its leaders. Under heavy police watch, dozens of protesters rallied in a procession of cars waving green and white national flags from windows at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos, the site of the crackdown on last year’s #EndSARS demonstrations while the big question persists, what has changed?

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Thursday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Thursday. ⁣

Protesters sing and chant at a demonstration against police brutality in Manzini, Eswatini. The tiny African country has been rocked by a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations, including workers from the transport sector as well as pupils and students who have boycotted lessons and called for free schooling.

Huddled around cooking fires as winter looms in Bosnia, refugees are risking beatings and humiliation from Croatian police in the desperate hope of a new life in the European Union. Largely from Afghanistan, many of them have endured months or years of flight from war and poverty, only to be met by Croatian police clubs and pointed guns at the gates to EU territory. At a ramshackle camp near the northwest Bosnian border town of Velika Kladusa, a group of mostly Afghans is hoping to cross into the EU. Some have been on the road for years and others left as the Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government in August.

“We came out here to honour our fallen brothers and sisters and they are telling us not to do so. Who does that,” asked a protester on as Nigerians, in their hundreds, gathered in Lagos and other Nigerian cities on Wednesday observed a memorial of last year’s long-drawn #EndSARS protests, which turned on its head on 20 October 2020.⁣⁣

A year ago, Akinwunmi hoisted a pole bearing the Nigerian and ENDSARS flags above his head to draw attention to the protest movement against police brutality in Lagos. Now known by thousands as Flagboii, Akinwunmi keeps waving his flag to "fight for a good country."

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Saturday. Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Saturday.⁣ ⁣

The Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, is set to become the first state hospital in Africa to perform robotic-assisted surgery, following the launch of the state-of-the-art Da Vinci X-I surgical robot.⁣⁣ The four-armed robot will aid surgeons in carrying out complex surgeries on patients in a less invasive and shorter period of time.⁣⁣

The third such major attack this year in Nigeria resulted in over 800 inmates being freed from a state prison. Police have since managed to rearrest more than 200 escapees.