JOSUGA: JOS JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES

The #EndSARS protests and the Lekki toll gate incident gained a monumental status during and after their occurrence in Nigeria. It has attracted many responses concerning how it was successfully managed and the gains that came afterward. Previous studies have given useful information about the nature of the protests. This study is about the disparity between the active users on social media and the news posts about the protests. It has identified a significant gap between the two media. Moreover, after the disbandment of the SARS unit, judicial inquiries were constituted nationwide to meet the demand for justice by the protesters, but not all cases were heard, and some states did not constitute any such panels. This study adopts the Public Sphere theory and the Spiral of Silence theory as theoretical foundations. The findings of this study reveal that not all grievances were given a hearing during the process of the inquiries, while some states did not even constitute any panels. Thus, two factors worked against the total success of the #EndSARS movement: the number of citizens without internet access and the number of citizens denied access to legal processes.

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