The #ENDSARS protests and the 2023 presidential elections in Lagos state, Nigeria: A comparative study of Eti-Osa, Ikeja, and Alimosho LGAs.

End SARS, widely written as #EndSARS, was a decentralized social movement and series of mass protests against police brutality in Nigeria that mainly occurred in 2020. More and more victims of the SARS have made the news these past years sparking each time a lot of indignation on social media and sometimes protests. The social media dimension to the protests made it significant as it spreads to other parts of the country and indeed, the impact of the protests has lingered. During the 2023 presidential elections, the memory of the #EndSARS protests resurged and voters’ choices was impacted by it. This paper is an empirical investigation of the impacts of #EndSARS on process and outcome of the 2023 presidential elections as held in Lagos State. The paper adopted the Social Movement theory as theoretical guide. The paper used a multi-stage sampling process. In the first phase, three geopolitical LGAs (Eti-Osa, Ikeja, and Alimosho) were purposely chosen due to the high concentration of #EndSARS protest activities in the areas. Next, in proportion to the total number of respondents in each of the aforementioned strata, a simple random sampling technique was used was select 400 eligible voters for questionnaire administration, out of which 384 were retrieved and used for analysis. The inferential statistical method of chi-square with the aid of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the empirical data for the study. The paper found the nature and extent of military involvement in the ENDSARS protest, particularly the alleged actions against protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, and how it influence the overall trajectory of the protest and how the ENDSARS protest contributed to the popularity and support for the "Obidient" movement and its candidate, Peter Obi, among Nigerian youth, and the specific grievances and demands resonated with the movement's platform, thus handling of the ENDSARS protest by the APC-led federal government, and the aftermath of the protest, influence voter sentiment and the voting pattern in Lagos State towards the party's presidential candidate. Therefore, the paper recommended that youth grievances should always be addressed promptly by governments in power, and that comprehensive security sector reform be prioritized so that democratic institutions and procedures can be strengthened to regain public trust.