Social Media as a Mechanism for Public Accountability in Nigeria: Lessons from #EndSARS

Abstract

This study examines the role of social media as an emerging mechanism of public accountability in Nigeria, using the 2020 #EndSARS movement against police brutality as an illustrative case. Drawing on Social Accountability Theory and the networked public sphere perspective, the study explores how digitally networked citizens used platforms such as Twitter (now X), Instagram, and WhatsApp to expose abuses by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), document the Lekki Tollgate shooting, mobilise nationwide protest, and pressure state institutions into establishing judicial panels of inquiry. Adopting a qualitative, document-based case study design, the article synthesises peer-reviewed literature, official inquiry findings, and reputable secondary sources to trace how social media performed three interlocking accountability functions during #EndSARS: mobilisational, evidentiary, and agenda-setting. The findings show that while social media substantially expanded the answerability of state actors, converting a local incident into sustained national and global scrutiny, its capacity to secure enforceable sanctions and institutional reform remained constrained by state pushback, including the June 2021 Twitter suspension, security-force repression, and the selective implementation of panel recommendations. The article concludes that social media functions in Nigeria as a potent but incomplete accountability mechanism, one whose long-term effectiveness depends on complementary formal institutions, digital rights protections, and sustained civic organisation beyond the moment of viral outrage. Policy and scholarly recommendations are offered for strengthening the accountability potential of digital civic action in Nigeria and similar democracies.