| Abstract: |
On Saturday 3 October 2020, a video showing a SARS police officer shooting a young Nigerian in front of Wetland Hotel, Ughelli, Delta State trended on the Internet. The trending video caused a public outcry on social media leading to online activism, especially on Twitter, with the #ENDSARS hashtag trending. On Thursday 8 October 2020, nationwide protests on #ENDSARS started after weeks of outrage and anger with videos and pictures showing police brutality, harassment and extortion in Nigeria. The protests were led predominantly by young Nigerians mostly
the digital natives who started the activism online in different cities alongside many activists and celebrities. By Wednesday, 14 October 2020, the End SARS protests were still ongoing both online and offline with other digital natives in different parts of Nigeria intensifying their calls for reforms and accountability in police operations. This study was designed to determine how the involvement of celebrities influenced the participation of Twitter users in the protest in the Enugu metropolis. The core objectives of the study were to ascertain the level of exposure of the respondents to celebrity tweets on the #EndSARS protest and how this exposure influenced their actual participation in the protest notwithstanding the existence of Coronavirus pandemic that is easily transmitted in a compacted crowd. Anchored on Adaptive Structuration Theory, the study adopted the survey method in carrying out the study
among Twitter users in Enugu metropolis with a population of 1,026,183 and a sample size of 382 determined using Krejcie and Morgan sample size determination table. The findings revealed that respondents were highly exposed to celebrity tweets on the #EndSARS protest which aroused emotions among them and made them join the protest both online and offline. The study recommended that digital natives should use the same energy they exerted during the #EndSARS protest to organize themselves for active political participation to be in a better position to change the
system for the best. |
