“Making Public Theology out of Digital Activism: The Case of #EndSARS”
(2025) Grassroots and Indigenous Digital Faith-Based Activism Colloquium, Institute Project on Decoloniality Conference — Location: University of Edinburgh (3.April.2025)
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- Abstract
- When the 2020 #EndSARS protest in Nigeria shifted from the digital platform X (formerly Twitter) to the streets, a clear ‘incarnational’ pattern was established. Well-intentioned dissent, such as the #EndSARS protest, can move from words to actions that seek to promote and fulfil the Gospel’s vision of abundant life. Despite being brutally suppressed, the protest highlights a dramatic shift in the political consciousness of young citizens, with consequences for any political, religious, economic or ethnic assent to impunity. By articulating a common good agenda, the protesters not only provided a context for theological reasoning about social change, but actually, from their grassroot context, provoked a religious or theological response, both online and on-ground, to oppression. How exactly did this theological provocation happen? And how exactly can the theological provocation help to reposition Christian churches for a proactive engagement within the public sphere for the purpose of social transformation? In engaging with these questions, this paper underscores the presence of a ‘theology from below’ in the #EndSARS protest as a decolonial project oriented towards a radical agenda of abundant life for all.
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Okpaleke, I. P. (2025). “Making Public Theology out of Digital Activism: The Case of #EndSARS”. Grassroots and Indigenous Digital Faith-Based Activism Colloquium, Institute Project on Decoloniality Conference, University of Edinburgh.