Investigative journalist David Hundeyin says Nigerians missed an opportunity to replicate what the Kenyans did with the End Sars protest in 2020.

Kenyans took to the streets early this month in protest over government corruption and controversial taxes imposed on them. The protesters set fire to the Parliament while demanding immediate action from President William Ruto.

The protests resulted in Ruto scrapping some proposed taxes in this year's controversial finance bill, including a 16% levy on bread, after a public outcry. It also led to the dismissal of his entire cabinet on Thursday, July 11.

Since taking office in 2022, President William Ruto has introduced several new and unpopular taxes to reduce the country’s national debt of nearly $80bn (£63bn).

Even after the tax hikes were abandoned, the protesters continued to focus increasingly on what they describe as a corrupt political class.

Reacting to what he describes as a situation mirroring what happened in Lagos and other cities on October 8, Hundeyin said the END Sars protest could have achieved the same result as the Kenyans did if it had not been hijacked by "certain people". According to him, these individuals "damaged the momentum" of the movement.

Recall that hundreds of Nigerians protested against alleged police brutality after a video of a man allegedly being killed by police went viral.

Hundeyin wrote in a post on X: "After the entire Kenyan presidential cabinet, the Kenyan Inspector-General of Police has just been forced to resign as well. Ruto is literally the last green bottle standing on the wall because Kenyans DOUBLED the pressure after their massacre."

"When I say that certain people destroyed the momentum of EndSARS that should have gone into overdrive by "calling off" what their father did not start just when things got real, it's like I don't know what I'm talking about, or I wasn't there on the ground in real-time."

"The next time you people have the opportunity to take your country back, if you like allow celebrities and rich kids with nothing upstairs to hijack the soul of your movement by crowbarring their way to its core, only to abandon you at the altar after gathering whatever visibility and social/economic capital they wanted from it, which is their signature move. Wetin I go talk pass "I told you so"?