Death of 22-year-old tech entrepreneur ‘brings back’ #EndSARS

Tributes have been pouring in for David Ntekim-Rex, a 22-year-old tech entrepreneur in Lagos who was shot dead by robbers in Jibowu axis of Yaba area.

Co-founder of an immigration tech firm Tunde Omotoye said David was recently employed to head a unit of his company before his death.

“This is so sad and I am actually speechless,” Omotoye tweeted. “I got introduced to David just on Tuesday. He joined a startup team I belong to as Head, Product Design.

“The system has indeed failed David. It has failed him & his family totally. I pray his family finds the strength for this loss.”

David is one of the two Nigerians that won at the annual Master the Mainframe competition organized by AngelHack, a global hackathon company and the IBM Z Academic Initiative in March 2018.

How ‘we’ lost David

David, according to a Twitter user Roy Mustang, was on his way home from work on Friday night when the robbers attacked and shot him dead.

Mustang said the police were called to the scene while David was gasping for breath but could not aid his transfer to a nearby hospital.

“The Nigerian police stood and watched as he gasped for air,” Mustang tweeted. “They took pictures instead, and were more concerned with why he – a tech guy- was carrying a laptop.”

He explained that David was taken to the “military hospital around the area, the nurses ignored him. The doctor came around and kept asking who they all were. It took a senior nurse to come out and start checking for a pulse.” Mustang claimed that David had lost a lot of blood at this point.

“The police then took David and his family to Sabo, where they looked for the laptop that he had on him instead of giving them a police report. He was finally released to his family, and they got to LUTH around 12:30 am.

“David wasn’t attended to by the doctors at LUTH. He was there till the family was convinced he couldn’t be alive because he had no pulse. The doctors refused to administer any test to see if he was alive.”

David’s death like many others that happened in the country could be attributed to the failed security structure. Many helpless Nigerians like David are left to deal with the effects of a poor policing system and government policies that make the environment unsafe.

Now, #EndSARS is ‘back’

Having exploited all means to get their grievances to the authorities, Nigerians are left with no other option than to protest – and peacefully so.

In October 2020, Nigeria witnessed a total shutdown of major cities in an en masse citizens protest against police brutality, extortion, harassment, and extrajudicial killings.

Although the protest has been put to a halt by the government, Nigerians are not done – protesting with the tag #EndSARS – a statement that now resonates with a fight against injustice, poor governance, and advocacy for better living in Nigeria.

On Monday morning – three days after David’s death – #EndSARS is back on the trends table – with a message to authorities to arrest the culprits for prosecution and set up a better policing system that guarantees security for all.

David’s story is another lightning rod to reboot #EndSARS

— Tunde (@styles_o6) January 18, 2021

We the youths had Dreams, but the Country woke us up to nightmares… Keep resting in power David and all victims of the #LekkiMassacre and #Endsars protest and also to all those Nigeria has failed! ✊

— Loud_Silence (@Ochai_el_Patron) January 18, 2021

Some #EndSARS protesters think they are fighting for Nigeria youth. I laugh in Swahili 😀 those you think you are fighting for will leave you behind and move on.

— Tweet of God (@IamTopsy4real) January 18, 2021

It pains me to see our youths venturing into illegal business and forsaking education this #EndSARS protest didn’t hit that much and out government still don’t care #EndSARS #

— kingtundeednut (@tundeednutking) January 18, 2021

The #EndSARS protest might not have yeilded a lot but it showed that the Nigeria youths and Nigeria as a whole are not afraid anymore to come outside and fight for thier rights, next time it’s going to be about bad governance and the f*cked up system.

— Baller G🔌💧 (@spunkynigga) January 18, 2021

#LekkiMassacre happened. No amount of gaslighting will ever expunge memories of that mindless brutality.
This new @BBCNews report recounts what the #EndSARS protestors endured at the toll gate & what has happened since.https://t.co/lQ8xJscxPu pic.twitter.com/VlC08xjSDo

— EiE Nigeria (@EiENigeria) January 18, 2021

Lagos State Police Command is yet to confirm or debunk the activities of its personnel before David’s death. A call to police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi was not answered. Text messages were not responded to at the time of filing this report.