widow
2020 was an unprecedented year, and it seemed like a never-ending year from COVID-19, #EndSARS protests, and other matters prevailed in the news.
Here are the most important events that marked 2020.
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) broke out in Wuhan, China in 2019 and was confirmed by the World Health Organization. In a matter of months, the virus has spread across the globe killing more than 1.81 million people as cases of the deadly disease topped 82.8 million in total, while 46.8 million have also recovered.
Nigeria recorded its first case of Coronavirus on February 27th, 2020, after an Italian national, was confirmed positive, making it the third case in Africa after it was reported in Egypt and Algeria respectively.
The COVID-19 virus swept through continents, leaving behind devastation, loss of jobs, deaths, and widespread fear, causing major changes in world operations and also bringing about tears, pains, and sorrow.
Following the outbreak, the various governments of the world imposed lockdown as a means of trying to curb the spread of the virus.
The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013, but the police-involved killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor reignited the movement and changed the way the nation talks about race.
What started as a poignant hashtag has come to define a generation, changing the very framework with which the nation talks about race through a wave of peace and sometimes violent protests and riots across the world to demand an end to police brutality and racial injustice.
More protests erupted in August when 29-year-old Jacob Blake was shot by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, cop and paralyzed from the waist down.
Just like BLM, Young Nigerians who make up a chunk of the country’s population, took to the streets across the country when yet another young man had been brutalized by police officers in Delta State.
The incident sparked nationwide protests that were first spearheaded by celebrities before they were seized on by an army of young Nigerians desperate for change, but always been dismissed and derided for caring more about reality TV shows and football than they do about civics, governance and politics.
End SARS is a decentralized social movement and a series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria. The slogan calls for the disbanding of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuses.
A Nigerian lawyer and activist, Segun Awosika also known as Segalink started the hashtag in 2017 and had hitherto been the face of the #EndSARS campaign on social media. But in October of 2020 however, young Nigerians revolted against entrenched injustice and a rigged political system in a way this nation has never quite seen before.
When the #EndSARS protesters took to the streets in early October and grounded the Nigerian economy for full measure, they were demanding not just for an end to decades of police brutality, but for a reset of the Nigerian state and better governance from the political elite, going forward.
But the peaceful rallies ended the night of October 20, after a Nigerian Army contingent allegedly opened fire at the unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll plaza. The incident attracted international condemnation and is under probe.
Riots erupted the next day as hoodlums looted or set fire to public and private properties.
The Nigerian government announced that the civil disorder, which lasted about a week, caused the death of 100 civilians and security operatives.
On the night of 20 October 2020, at about 6:50 p.m., members of the Nigerian Army allegedly opened fire on peaceful End SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos State.
According to Amnesty International, at least 12 protesters were killed during the shooting, it is said the number is definitely higher. There have been complaints about missing persons and a few have been confirmed to be hospitalized and in critical condition.
A day after the incident, on 21 October, the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, initially denied reports of any loss of lives, but later admitted in an interview with a CNN journalist that two persons were killed but were not related to Lekki incident.
The Nigerian Army initially denied that the shooting ever happened and that none of its personnel were present at the toll gate. A week later, however, the Nigerian Army admitted to an investigative panel in the presence of the press, that it had deployed soldiers to the toll gate on the orders of the governor of Lagos State.
During a visit to the scene of the Lekki Toll Gate massacre, the panel found spent bullet shells. Also, on 30 November 2020, The Nigerian Army admitted that its soldiers were armed with live ammunition, but the bullets used when they opened fire at the toll gate were blanks.
READ ALSO: High-Profile Politicians Who Didn’t Survive The Ravaging Pandemic, COVID-19
Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States on November 7, defeating President Trump with a critical assist from his birth state, Pennsylvania, which delivered the votes to propel him to victory and end one of the most contentious elections in recent memory.
Biden, who contested the election on the Democratic Party platform defeated the incumbent President and candidate of the Republican Party, polling over 300 Electoral College votes.
Trump, backed by the majority of the leadership of his party had rejected the result and till date, has refused to acknowledge Biden as the winner, citing election fraud, allegations he has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt in as many courts he has gone to.
Biden will be sworn-in as the 46th President of the US on January 20, 2021.
The legendary Los Angeles Lakers player was killled along with his daughter, Gianna, and seven others when their helicopter crashed in Calabasas, Calif., on Jan. 26.
Bryant, 41, was travelling with his daughter and seven other passengers and crew when the Sikorsky S-76 slammed into a rugged hillside in thick fog in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles.
Also killed were John Altobelli, 56, longtime head coach of Southern California’s Orange Coast College baseball team; his wife, Keri; and daughter, Alyssa, who played on the same basketball team as Bryant’s daughter; and Christina Mauser, a girls’ basketball coach at a Southern California elementary school.
Another young player, Payton Chester, was also killed in the crash along with her mother Sarah Chester.
Argentina soccer legend Diego Maradona, who died aged 60, succumbed to heart failure.
The Argentine Football Association confirmed Maradona’s death and posted a short message on its social media platforms.
“The Argentine Football Association, through its President Claudio Tapia, expresses its deepest sorrow for the death of our legend, Diego Armando Maradona. You will always be in our hearts,” it tweeted.
He was ranked with Pelé among the best, and his ability to surprise and startle won over fans and even critics. But his excesses and addictions darkened his legacy.
Regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game, Maradona became a household name after inspiring his country to World Cup glory in 1986.
The Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, in partnership with the Lagos State…
Former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, has again blasted the leader of the British Conservative…
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has taken a significant step towards enhancing the welfare and…