When Protest Loses Its Soul: South Africa, Nigeria, and the Danger of Leaderless Anger

By Dr. Jerry Igwilo/

The recent anti-immigrant protests in South Africa should worry every African who still believes in the dignity of our continent. Reports from South Africa show that anti-migrant marches took place across several cities, with police arresting more than 900 people during the unrest. The incidents included public violence, robbery, immigration-related arrests, looting, attacks on migrant-owned businesses, and deaths linked to the violence and fear around the protests.

Human Rights Watch had already warned in May 2026 about a new wave of xenophobic harassment, discrimination, and attacks in South Africa. The concern was serious enough that the United Nations Secretary General and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights also raised alarm about violence against foreign nationals and the need for accountability.

Many Nigerians have rightly condemned these attacks. No Nigerian should support the harassment, intimidation, looting, or killing of African migrants in South Africa. A Nigerian trader, student, professional, artisan, driver, or small business owner in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, or Cape Town deserves the protection of law, not the violence of a mob.

But the events in South Africa should also force Nigerians to look inward.

We cannot condemn mob violence in South Africa while excusing similar lawlessness at home when it carries the language of protest, agitation, ethnic pride, youth anger, or love for country. We cannot call South African mobs xenophobic criminals and then romanticise our own mobs when they burn, loot, harass, threaten, destroy public property, attack people with different opinions, or shut down economic life by force.

The faces may differ. The slogans may differ. The flags may differ. The anger may come from different histories. But the moral danger is the same.

A cause without discipline can become violence.

A protest without leadership can become destruction.

An agitation without respect for law can become criminality.

And when people defend such actions because they support the grievance behind them, society begins to lose its moral compass.

The Similarity Between South Africa’s Mob Anger and Nigeria’s Own Disorder

The South African anti-immigrant protests are driven by claims that migrants are responsible for unemployment, crime, and pressure on public services. Reuters reported that protesters blamed migrants for unemployment and strained services, even though experts disputed the strength of such claims. Foreign nationals were reported to make up less than 4 percent of South Africa’s population.

This is a familiar pattern in societies under stress.

When the economy fails, people look for someone to blame.

When unemployment rises, migrants become targets.

When public services collapse, foreigners become scapegoats.

When government fails to deliver, mobs appoint themselves as immigration officers, judges, police, and executioners.

This is not patriotism. It is social frustration without moral discipline.

Nigeria has seen its own versions of this problem. The #EndSARS protest began as a legitimate citizens’ demand against police brutality. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International documented concerns around excessive force against protesters, including the Lekki toll gate incident of 20th October 2020, where Amnesty reported that at least 12 peaceful protesters were shot dead.

That moral point must never be lost. The demand to end police brutality was valid. Peaceful protest is a democratic right. Citizens have the right to challenge injustice.

However, another truth must also be told. After the state’s violent response and the breakdown of order in several areas, unidentified non-state actors and criminal elements engaged in destruction of properties in Lagos and other parts of the country. Human Rights Watch’s statement at the time condemned both excessive force against protesters and the unlawful violence that followed.

That distinction matters.

A peaceful protest against injustice is different from looting, arson, vandalism, ethnic targeting, and destruction of public or private property.

If we fail to make that distinction, we corrupt the moral value of protest itself.

The IPOB Sit-at-Home and the Weaponisation of Fear

The South East has also suffered from the tragic consequences of agitation without moral control. The sit-at-home order linked to IPOB (a proscribed organization) began as a political demand connected to the detention of its leader, but over time, enforcement in many areas became associated with fear, violence, killings, attacks on civilians, and severe economic disruption.

Reuters reported on an SBM Intelligence report stating that more than 700 people had died in Nigeria’s South East due to sit-at-home protest-related violence since 2021. The report also estimated economic losses at over ₦7.6 trillion, while noting that IPOB said it had suspended regular protests and denied involvement in killings.

This is where Nigerians must be honest with themselves.

No cause, no matter how emotionally powerful, should give anyone the right to force citizens to stay indoors, burn vehicles, destroy shops, threaten traders, kill innocent people, or shut down the economy of a region.

A people cannot claim to fight for freedom by terrorising the same people they claim to represent.

A movement cannot claim to love a homeland by destroying the businesses, schools, transport systems, and daily survival of that homeland.

A protest loses moral legitimacy when citizens obey not because they agree, but because they are afraid.

The problem is not Protest. The Problem is Protest without Moral Order

A serious society must make room for protest. Without protest, injustice can become permanent. Without agitation, power can become deaf. Without citizen resistance, government can become arrogant.

But protest must have moral order.

A protest must have leadership.

A protest must have discipline.

A protest must have a clear demand.

A protest must respect human life.

A protest must protect property.

A protest must allow dissent.

A protest must reject criminals.

A protest must work within the boundaries of law, even when challenging an unjust system.

The moment a protest becomes a cover for looting, ethnic hatred, intimidation, vandalism, arson, or murder, it ceases to be civic action. It becomes organised disorder.

That is the problem with many of these movements, whether in South Africa or Nigeria. They often begin with a grievance. Some of the grievances may even be real. But because they lack disciplined leadership, civic education, moral control, and lawful strategy, they are hijacked by mobs, opportunists, political actors, criminals, and angry people who do not fully understand the consequence of what they are doing.

This is why a society must never confuse anger with wisdom.

Anger can start a movement.

Only leadership can give it direction.

The Illiteracy of the Mob Is Not Only About Schooling

When people say these actions are led by illiterates or semi-illiterates, we must understand the meaning properly. Illiteracy here is not only the inability to read and write. Some people with degrees also behave like mobs. Some people with professional titles still defend violence when it suits their politics. Some people who speak good English still spread hate, lies, ethnic suspicion, and revenge narratives online.

The deeper illiteracy is civic illiteracy.

It is not knowing that rights come with responsibility.

It is not knowing that protest must respect law.

It is not knowing that anger does not justify criminality.

It is not knowing that the person with a different opinion is not your enemy.

It is not knowing that a shop owned by another citizen or migrant is not a legitimate target.

It is not knowing that public property belongs to all of us.

It is not knowing that once violence is normalised, nobody can control who becomes the next victim.

This is the civic illiteracy destroying Africa.

The Hypocrisy We Must Confront

Many Nigerians have condemned South Africa’s anti-migrant violence, and rightly so. But some of the same voices were less careful when Nigeria faced destructive protests, ethnic intimidation, and violent agitation at home.

Some people supported #EndSARS when it was peaceful, but later refused to condemn the criminal destruction that followed.

Some people supported separatist rhetoric without thinking through the human, economic, and social cost of violent enforcement.

Some people condemned xenophobia in South Africa but defended ethnic demonisation in Nigeria.

Some people opposed mob attacks abroad but celebrated mob pressure at home when it targeted people they disliked.

This selective morality is dangerous.

Wrong is wrong, whether it happens in Johannesburg or Lagos.

Wrong is wrong, whether the victim is Nigerian, Zimbabwean, Ghanaian, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, South African, or foreign.

Wrong is wrong, whether the attacker carries a national flag, ethnic flag, religious slogan, protest placard, or political banner.

If we condemn violence only when our people are victims, but defend it when our people are perpetrators, we have not learnt morality. We have only learnt tribal convenience.

The Failure of Leadership and the Failure of Citizenship

It is easy to blame government for everything. Government must take responsibility for law enforcement, immigration policy, public order, unemployment, policing, and protection of life and property. South Africa’s government must protect migrants and punish those who attack them. Nigeria’s government must protect citizens, address police brutality, secure the South East, protect businesses, and ensure that peaceful protest is not met with unlawful force.

But citizens also have responsibility.

A citizen must not loot.

A citizen must not burn.

A citizen must not attack migrants.

A citizen must not threaten traders.

A citizen must not destroy public property.

A citizen must not enforce political beliefs by violence.

A citizen must not hide criminality under protest.

A citizen must not support lawlessness because it benefits his tribe, religion, region, party, or preferred cause.

This is where national greatness begins. Not only with what government does, but with what citizens refuse to do.

What Nigeria and Nigerians Must Learn

Nigeria has enough problems already. We do not need to add ethnic hatred, mob justice, violent separatism, retaliatory nationalism, and lawless protest to our burden.

We must learn several lessons from South Africa’s anti-immigrant crisis and our own internal experience.

First, grievance must be separated from criminality. A grievance may be valid, but the method can be wrong. Police brutality was wrong, but looting was also wrong. Poor immigration management may be a concern in South Africa, but attacking migrants is criminal. Political marginalisation may be debated, but killing civilians or destroying businesses is indefensible.

Second, protest must have disciplined leadership. A movement without leadership becomes easy to hijack. Protest leaders must define demands, create marshals, reject violence, document provocations, engage lawyers, protect property, and communicate clearly.

Third, the rule of law must remain central. Citizens cannot take over the work of courts, police, immigration officers, legislatures, or governments. Once every angry group begins to enforce its own version of justice, the country collapses into private violence.

Fourth, we must stop ethnic and migrant scapegoating. South Africans blaming African migrants for structural unemployment is not different in moral danger from Nigerians blaming one tribe for every economic or political problem. Scapegoating is the language of weak societies.

Fifth, leaders must respond before anger becomes violence. Government must not wait until shops are burnt, people are killed, or communities shut down before acting. Early dialogue, intelligence, law enforcement, and credible reform matter.

Sixth, citizens must reject online radicalisation. Many violent movements are first built in language before they become physical. Insults, dehumanisation, ethnic slurs, conspiracy theories, and calls for revenge prepare the ground for real violence.

Seventh, Africa must protect Africans across borders. South Africa and Nigeria are major African powers. They should not allow mob violence, poor diplomacy, and populist anger to damage African solidarity. African migrants must obey the laws of host countries, but host countries must protect their rights and dignity under law.

Nigeria Under One Flag

Nigeria is not perfect. In fact, Nigeria has failed many of its citizens in many ways. But destroying Nigeria will not heal Nigeria.

A country is not rebuilt by hatred.

A country is not rebuilt by burning markets.

A country is not rebuilt by demonising tribes.

A country is not rebuilt by forcing people to stay indoors.

A country is not rebuilt by attacking migrants.

A country is not rebuilt by turning protest into a business of destruction.

Nigeria can only become great when Nigerians decide to act as one people under one flag and one national anthem. That does not mean we must agree on everything. It does not mean we must ignore injustice. It does not mean we must pretend that ethnic tension, corruption, police brutality, inequality, and poor governance do not exist.

It means we must agree on minimum rules of nationhood.

We can disagree without killing.

We can protest without burning.

We can demand justice without destroying.

We can criticise government without hating the country.

We can defend our tribe without demonising another tribe.

We can seek reform without collapsing the society.

We can be angry and still remain lawful.

That is the discipline of citizenship.

Conclusion: A Nation Cannot Be Built by Mob Energy

The events in South Africa should not only provoke Nigerian anger. They should provoke Nigerian reflection.

When we look at South African mobs attacking African migrants, we should also ask ourselves whether we have tolerated similar moral failures at home. When we condemn xenophobia abroad, we should also condemn ethnic hatred at home. When we demand protection for Nigerians in South Africa, we should also demand protection for all Nigerians in every part of Nigeria.

The future of Nigeria will not be secured by leaderless anger, selective morality, ethnic bitterness, or protest without discipline.

It will be secured by citizens who understand that freedom requires responsibility.

It will be secured by movements that understand that justice cannot be built through criminality.

It will be secured by leaders who act early, enforce law fairly, and listen before anger explodes.

It will be secured by a people who still believe that Nigeria, with all its wounds, is worth rebuilding.

We must reject violence everywhere, not only when it affects us.

We must defend law everywhere, not only when it favours us.

We must protect human dignity everywhere, not only when the victim looks like us.

That is how a nation becomes great.

That is how Nigeria can rise.

Not as scattered tribes shouting at one another, but as one people under one flag, one anthem, and one shared responsibility to build a country that does not destroy itself in the name of love for country.

And yes change begins with me.