THE Editor-in-chief of UN Dispatch and host of a global dispatches podcast has attracted criticism after tweeting a thread saying that Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi’s popularity stemmed from the #EndSars movement which he says was inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests and the killing of George Floyd in the US.
Mark Leon Goldberg tweeted: “If Peter Obi ends up winning the presidential elections in Nigeria, you could argue that it would represent the most significant political impact of the George Floyd protests anywhere in the world — including the US.”
‘The tweet has had thousands of interactions since being posted on Thursday evening with many critical of the analogy:
Rinu Oduala replied:
I disagree with you drawing a straight line from BLM to the #EndSARS protests. That’s a fallacy.
Nigerians are no stranger to police brutality and protests have been slowly building momentum in Nigeria since 2016, years before the George Floyd protests in 2020.
Tayo Oviosu added:
This take is simply wrong.
I’ve been a victim of police brutality in Lagos. George Floyd had no bearings on #EndSARS!
No need to try to link the events in Minneapolis to Lagos or Nigeria!
Essang Essang chipped in:
I strongly disagree with this analogy. The George Floyd movement was a protest against racism. #EndSARS was a movement against police brutality initiated by the youth of Nigeria. This is a lazy comparison assuming that the world rotates around the USA. Go read Nigerian history.
