Article published In: Pragmatics in African Contexts
[Pragmatics and Society 17:2] 2026
► pp. 153–174
Us and them
Discourses on October 20, 2020 #endsars shooting at the Lekki toll gate in Nigerian newspapers
Published online: 13 February 2025
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22097.osi
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22097.osi
Abstract
#EndSARS protest started publicly on October 8, 2020, with teeming Nigerian youths moving from one location to the
other to press home their demands, protesting police brutality among others. The protesters, especially those in Lagos, chose the
Lekki Toll Gate as their protest base. The protest protracted across the country until October 20, 2020, when there were alleged
shootings at the Lekki location by men in uniform believed to be from the Nigerian army. The protest and the shooting generated
controversies, with the international community lending their voice to condemn the act. Existing studies on protests in Nigeria
have examined #fuel fees must fall, Biafra protest, and so forth. Yet, studies have not adequately examined the #EndSARS-induced
Lekki shooting. Its critical examination can confirm or refute the existing claims on protest discourse. This study, therefore,
examines the newspaper narratives on the October 20 #EndSARS shooting at Lekki Toll Gate, to identify the deployed discourse
issues, the pragmatic acts, identities and ideological polarisations in the discourses. Using aspects of van Dijk’s model of
critical discourse analysis, Mey’s pragmatics acts and Voyant Tools, related narratives from two widely read Nigerian newspapers:
Punch and Leadership revealed two broad ideological polarisations (US vs THEM) and four
sub-categorisations of ideological discourse structure: actor description, argument, activity and goal description, and discourse
strategies, and different pragmatic acts.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction: Protest discourse
- 2.Representations in media
- 3.Data, methodology and theory
- 4.Analysis and discussion
- 4.1Actor description
- 4.2The argument
- 4.3The activity and goal description of the #EndSARS protesters
- 4.4Discourse Strategies
- 5.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Declaration of conflicting interests
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