Lagos, Nigeria – Sodiq Taiwo looks at the window of his bedroom in Lagos, and the children are watching below playing and quarreling in the backyard. One of their favorite games is “Police and the Zire”, where heroes chase the supposed criminals, and the “Pio Bio” as if to drop the violations.

A muffled laugh at Taiwo in the paradox while waiting for the Grand Theft Auto V (GTA) online – the extension of the game concession that allows players to dizzy as criminals – to finish the installation on its computer.

Earlier that day, the 29 -year -old digital marketer, creative and technology lawyer in Uber was on his way home when he stumbled on a Tiktok video by the Nigerian video game Testicalceza. With more than 308,000 followers on Tiktok, CEZA became one of the most important GTA faces to play in Nigeria, where there were tens of thousands to watch it moving in the game.

Using Fivem – an amendment to GTA allows players to create or join multi -player servers without changing the basic work frame for the game – CEZA PLAYACTS as a police figure in the “Made in Lagos” community.

There, he wears his personality, wearing a Kevlar jacket decorated with the “Nigerian police”, commenting on cars and interacting with other personalities represented in playing roles as a fraud or motorists-where they reactivate the real life confrontations faced by many young people with the police.

“Stop your car! … from your engine! “The character of CEZA is back on the character of a car driver withdrawing to the side of the road.” Who is the owner of this car?! … What do you do for a livelihood?! The nearby ATM machine where they demand the withdrawal of money, which they also take from it before it is finally allowed to return to his car and driving.

For Toyo, sitting at the back of the Uber watching the video, it hit the roles near the house.

Less than half an hour before the real world, the Nigerian armed police had retracted the cabin in which he was traveling, in a rumor.

“Garden! Garden!” One screaming. Tayo was a routine knew everything well. In the previous stations, the officers were asking him for a symbol “for water” – generally considered an expression of a bribe – while at other times, they were delaying traffic, and doing something criminalized. On this day, they asked Taio to open his bag and search the cabin before someone asked him for some money to eat. “Search for me something,” the police officer told Taiwo.

But later, he returns home at his workstation, Taiwo sees the progress bar on his computer screen, indicating that the GTA game is installed. Then the CEZA educational video opens on YouTube to explain how to play the game using Fivem and Made in Lagos Server. He follows the instructions step by step, and his curiosity is escalating, as he approaches access to a familiar virtual but surreal virtual – full of confrontations that are not different from what he just experienced.

Satire

For children outside Tayo’s house, “Play” opens a world committed only to their imagination, the edges of the backyard, and the watchful view of an older brother.

“Police and the Police”, or the police and thieves, games are an innocent hobby. But without their knowledge, they reflect the harsh fact of the police in cities all over Nigeria.

These live experiences reached a boiling point in 2020 during #Eendsars protests. What began as an isolated grievance against the routine classification of the Anti -Western Group (SARS), the escalation of stereotypes and abuse of a national movement that requires accountability, reform and dignity. Millions moved to the streets, forcing the world at the expense of Nigerian youth.

However, after five years, a little changed. More than 2000 complaints of police misconduct were registered between 2020 and 2024, according to Nigerian media reports indicating various government agencies. Only last year, three men of Million Nira ($ 666) fell Shakedown – An accident that appeared only when the officers were secretly recorded with an glasses camera, and the shots later appeared on X.

For Ceza, his decision stems using games as a way to tell stories from the desire to participate and comment on these common struggles.

“I faced it directly, as well as you have close friends I lived with,” he said to Al -Jazeera. “This is a large part of the reason I could tell these stories originally. The stories that I have encountered online also help to form my point of view.”

Tiktok’s popularity and CEZA’s success lie in a mixture of social comments and games. By overlapping the Call of Duty flows with a gameplay or reactions to the topics that are directed, it has carved a unique position in Nigeria, which combines pop culture with games to amplify his comedic personality.

However, his ascending to the lead was not without controversy.

When he posted a video apologizing to the Nigerian President for his laughter in his fall during the opening of the 2023, the viewers speculated that he had been forced to threaten the weapon after noting what appears to be the crater of the gun in the frame. Cisa later explained that the microphone was for him, but the incident confirmed the weakness of the criticism in Nigeria – even through satire.

“He – she [using satire] “Knowing your rights is not enough to stay in Nigeria,” said Seiza.

He says, his work seeks education, but also reassures his fans, to remind them: “What you faced, you are not alone, and this alone gives comfort.”

Although the games are steadily gaining traction in Nigeria, Ceza is still unique in his approach, as you play GTA roles as a mirror and amplifiers to emphasize the absurdity of daily injustice.

However, his work is not without a precedent. Through music and films, Nigerian artists have long practiced their artifacts as tools for resistance. Johnny is a Falz Falz singer, and this is Nigeria as enormous indictment regulations, while his colleague, musician Born Boys, monsters made with the righteous anger of the persecuted. Nollywood also played its role – films like Oloture and Black November Peel re -layers of institutional rot, and the state’s complicity offered to the suffering of its people.

CEZA’s work is in line with this tradition, but it also indicates its development: with the development of stories, as well as the ways that Nigerians resist and criticize and pressed for change.

Games as activity

Globally, video games exceed both movies and music in revenue and access. According to the Newzoo World Games report, the game industry produced more than $ 187 billion in 2024, pressing the global ticket and music industry. While the Nigeria games scene is still emerging, its rapid growth – driven by portable games and the extensive internet user base – indicates an increase in its cultural importance.

On the global level, digital platforms have emerged as tools for activity, with examples such as Roblox to host protests to highlight political reasons, such as supportive solidarity during the Gaza war. Hong Kong and supporters of democracy and supporters of Black Lives Matter also used virtual spaces to amplify their messages, and turn play into power for change.

In Nigeria, this method reflects the truth of many young people, as it provides a space to confront real world issues such as the police brutality and systemic description.

Joost VervoRt, a researcher specializing in how to restore digital environments such as games to reshape community standards, empower societies, challenge firm systems, “Video games, if CEZA does, people can be reflected in a cultural phenomenon. It is a story of stories. It is it. It is it. Play with group identities.

His research reveals the seriousness of seriousness and fun, while presenting an insight into the reason why Nigerians attracted to shed light on serious issues, as CEZA does.

“The wisdom of deep fun lies in taking things less solid, with a distance and paradoxical perspective. We allow us to play by rejecting natural interpretations, embracing absurdity and complex life, while imagining endless capabilities to change.”

As Ceza explains, society is formed by the society in which it arises: “When everyone hears a different story, I think they have free will either take it as a deeper joke or message. This is not for me to impose on them.”

While players in the game and Tiktok viewers see a mirror of their own reality in the work of CEZA, VERVOORT explains that these familiarity compels the players to invest their identity, values ​​and interests in the game, and build societies, over time, helping to transform societal standards.

Some people are concerned that a very intertwined humor with serious issues risks the attractiveness of the message that is lost. However, VERVOORT is confident of its strength to demonstrate change. He says: “The space gradually turns into a platform for cultural and political criticism, and although the risk of not taking it is seriously, it is unlikely that the effect will come out.”

With the growth of broadcasting and games become a more powerful way to activity, CEZA sees its ability to reach the global fans and present a new vision of Nigerian issues. He says, “It will change the world and put the Nigerians on the map.” “It is a new field, and I am happy because it is growing.”

For Toyo, this growing power becomes concrete because it puts the role of a fraud in GTA, and soon finds himself in a virtual meeting that reflects the harassment he faces in real life.

On the screen, CEZA, with a character, as a police officer, requires Tayo “dropping something for children” or the risk that is transferred to the station.

Regardless of the number of times Tayo tries to escape, the rules of the game – like the system in which he lives – are still unlikely, and they are not commensurate with its rules.

However, for him, the game is both healing and societal-a space that can address its frustrations without the consequences of the world while communicating with others who understand reality.

“It is strange,” admits. “You thought I wanted to escape from it, but playing like this makes her feel less crazy – at least here, I know it is not real. Perhaps this is the point. We all laugh at something that is not funny, because what can we do?”