#EndSARS: I don’t feel free in Nigeria, says Tiwa Savage

Tiwa Savage say the end SARS fight is for everyone and it's not just for Nigerians.

Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage wins the Best Female category at the MTV Africa Awards held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban on June 7, 2014. AFP PHOTO / RAJESH JANTILAL

Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage says the #EndSARS fight is for everyone and not just for Nigerians because everyone was fighting a battle of some sort in their own country.

Speaking to The Dotty Show’s Dotty on Apple Music 1, Savage said she did not feel free being a woman of colour in Nigeria.

“…But for me, it’s a bigger picture. I feel like as a woman of colour, I feel like, if I’m not free, nobody else is free. A Jamaican, a Black American, a Black British, I feel like the fight is for everyone. Honestly, [in] the last week or so, I just haven’t been myself. It’s just overwhelming. I don’t know what to think. I don’t know how to help, what to say, I’ve not been myself,” said Savage.

The #EndSARS campaign began after a rogue Nigerian police unit, called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), was outed as abusing its power by robbing, torturing, and killing the citizens they were employed to protect.

The campaign went viral after video footage showed the police unit brutalising Nigerians.

Celebrities from South Africa and internationally joined in solidarity to end SARS.

How can a government have no regard for the life of its citizens. How can people shoot to KILL there own countrymen and women? This is insane. We are living in an insane time in human history. #EndSARS Sending LOVE & STRENGTH to NAIJA. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/KAlPZWpHId

— AKA (@akaworldwide) October 21, 2020

International rapper Cardi B sent out a video on her social media directed at the Nigerian government, saying they needed to fix the problem.

She said: “You got to treat your people right. You know what I’m saying. In order for your country to be successful, you have to treat your people right. If your people are complaining and are tired about the police, then bro, get that sh** fixed.”

Tiwa Savage’s interview with Dotty on The Dotty Show will air on 5 November 2020 at 3pm GMT on Apple Music 1.

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