Philip Ola OLOGBONYO

The aim of the study was to examine the End Special Anti-Robbery Squad (#EndSARS) protest from a semiotic perspective. The objectives were to investigate the meaning potential of #EndSARS text as a semiotic system; analyze signification strategies in the use of signs as presented by protesters on the internet; and explore the role and impact of signs in mobilizing participants and shaping the movement’s outcomes. The data for the study were media posts, memes, protest photographs, and artwork (cartoons). A total of 100 #EndSARS-related datasets were collected, and they were screened based on certain criteria such as, the need for the data to be exclusively #EndSARS, and the inclusion of the presence of either verbal or visual elements containing relevant keywords related to #EndSARS, which resulted in the eventual selection of thirty. The study adopted the sign typology by Charles Sanders Pierce to categorize the #EndSARS protest sign and used Saussure’s dyadic model of sign to analyze the data. The study found that the #EndSARS text functioned as a complex semiotic system, comprising various constituent units such as hashtags, images, slogans, and gestures, as well as the interactions among these units contributed to the #EndSARS text's overall meaning by highlighting the cyclical nature of societal challenges in Nigeria. Signification strategy of color (red, yellow, black, and green), gestures (raised fist, raised flag, and sitting of protesters), attire (hijab, hair tie, and face mask) was employed by agitators as sign of resistance, urgency, justice for the Nigerian youths, and socio-political change. Hashtags like #ENDSARS, #ENDSWAT, #ENDPOLICEBRUTALITY and #ALUTA CONTINUA were used in mobilizing participants by creating a sense of solidarity and collective identity among protesters.