Tence in the hands of men of the dreaded Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, operatives, Chidi Oluchi, 32, is still traumatised. Chidi was ar- rested for alleged robbery, tortured and dispossessed of his belongings. He parted with N25,000 to secure freedom from the dungeon in Enugu, south east Nigeria.
Many others never came out alive from the “slaughterhouses” of the Federal Anti-Robbery Squad, FSARS, and its state counterparts, the State Anti-Rob- bery Squad, SARS. Chibuike Edu, a factory worker with Intecil Products Limited, Emene, Enugu, died in the hands of SARS officials. Aged 22, the young boy was arrested by SARS operatives and tortured to death. His death, barely 10 minutes after he was rushed to the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital, Parklane, Enugu, was not communicated to the family. Neither was his corpse released to them for proper burial.
Cases like these are rampant at the SARS office located at Golf Estate, beside New Market, Enugu. The area is like a war zone where only the fittest survive. Many survi- vors of SARS brutality claim that the of- ficers are in the habit of extra judicial kill- ings at night, especially those they classify as hardened criminals. “This is why they always claim that their victims had been transferred to Abuja while in the actual sense, they had been killed,” a source said.
Across the 36 states of the federation, SARS officers have been severally ac- cused of stealing, demanding bribes or confiscating property from relatives of detained suspects. In many cases, suspects are taken to banks to withdraw huge cash and hand over to the goons in exchange for freedom.
At the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, FSARS, Abattoir, Guzape, Abuja, it is like a market every day. Hundreds of vehicles are parked by relatives negotiating the release of detainees. Perversion of justice is prevalent at FSARS. The high and mighty buy their ways out of trouble with millions of naira. Here, officers dabble into cases beyond their purview. Creditors use them to recover debts; investigate land disputes and settle other scores contrary to their schedule of duties. They also indulge in kidnapping and outright killings. The celebrated Apo Six massacre of 2005 is noteworthy.
Unfortunately, thousands of their victims are too scared to report their experiences. Indeed, the fear of SARS operatives in Nigeria is the beginning of wisdom.
The growing resentment against (F)SARS reached a crescendo last week. On Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Sunday Dare, minister of Youths and Sports, barely managed to avert a massive protest against the trigger happy SARS men. That day, Naira Marley, a musician and his many supporters had planned a peaceful rally in Lagos against SARS. But it was shelved follow- ing the intervention of the governor, the minister and the State Police Commissioner who did everything to placate residents.
At the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, FSARS, Abattoir, Guzape, Abuja, it is like a market every day. Hundreds of vehicles are parked by relatives negotiating the release of detainees. Perversion of justice is prevalent at FSARS. The high and mighty buy their ways out of trouble with millions of naira. Here, officers dabble into cases beyond their purview. Creditors use them to recover debts; investigate land disputes and settle other scores contrary to their schedule of duties. They also indulge in kidnapping and outright killings. The celebrated Apo Six massacre of 2005 is noteworthy.
Sanwo-Olu took the first step by assuring residents that his government would no longer allow rogue SARS officials to harass them. “The safety of our residents is my number one duty as the CSO (chief security officer) of Lagos. So, reading reports of seemingly unlawful exploitation by the people charged to protect is very worrying and needs to be addressed immediately. Be assured that appropriate actions will be taken, and speedily too,” the governor said.
Since then, angry #EndSARS protesters have taken to the streets in Lagos and Abuja. Last Thursday, they kept vigil at the entrance of the Lagos House of Assembly, Ikeja. They built tents at the entrance, which police operatives dismantled and carted away. The visibly angry protester refused to back down despite threats to disperse them after policemen destroyed the tent where they had camped for two nights.
Earlier in the day, Folarin “Falz” Falana and Douglas “Runtown” Agu led a protest to call for scrapping of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit in Lagos. Tiwa Savage, Rudeboy, Bolanle Ninalowo, PocoLee, Blac- qbonez, Pamilerin, BBNaija Prince, and other celebrities also joined the protest.
Around 10pm, the street lights, which provided illumination for the protesters, were switched off, creating fear of possible attacks from trigger-happy policemen.
But Policemen were not so lenient with such protesters in Abuja. Last Friday, they dispersed #ENDSARS protesters with tear gas. All hell was let loose as armed policemen chased the protesters who marched on the Central Area of Abuja. As shots were fired in the air, residents scampered for safety. The previous day, demonstrators had laid siege to the Force Headquarters at Louis Edet House. This caused a major disruption of vehicular and human movements in the Central Area of Abuja.
The #EndSARS campaign protest has become like a wildfire across the country. In Edo State, the citizens are enraged by SARS atrocities. Addressing the protesters, Edo State Deputy Governor, Mr Philip Shai- bu, said the state government will no longer tolerate any form of police brutality. He urged the people to list their sufferings in the hands of the police to enable him facilitate a tripartite meeting of the Nigeria Police, the government and representatives of the protesting youths.
According to Chief Patrick Eholor, the Enobore of Utoka, in Edo state, SARS atrocities have taken the form of invasion of private residence by the police, who carry out body searches and without warrants, seize mobile devices, computers and ATM cards of inhabitants.
“It is the duty of the Police to protect the lives and properties of citizens against criminals. But instead it is the Police that are intimidating, harassing and even taking away what belongs to the citizens and demanding that they pay money to regain ownership,” he said.
For Barrister Sam Ebiogbodin, the Police had good intentions when it carved out SARS and its task was solely to help in tracking down and bringing to book suspects of violent crimes like kidnapping and armed robbery. He said that though the Nigeria Police had the Mobile Unit which had its personnel trained for related activities like riots that could get out of control before now, it needed SARS to boost its crime-fighting efforts.
But he was worried that today, SARS has failed not only the Police but the citizens. “This is because it has been infiltrated by criminals who now see it as a way of carrying out their criminal activities, albeit, legally. This is why their operations are largely anti-people,” he said.
Osazee Edigin of the Edo state chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, argued that inappropriate recruitment processes, poor funding and the absence of a feedback mechanism are the bane of the Nigeria Police. He said that SARS is just a true reflection of the state of affairs in the entire Police system and banning or scrapping it will not bring about better policing of the Nigerian society.
“I don’t think SARS should be scrapped as it will not stop anything. What is needed is a total overhaul of the Nigeria police because right now because they have compromised, Nigerians do not take them seriously,” he told this paper.
For the Nigeria Police to be respected by the citi- zens, Professor Edoba Omoregie, director of Legis- lative Support Services at the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies, Abuja, said the new Police Act should be implemented to the letter. He believes that instead of the Inspector-General’s use of a public pronouncement to call off SARS which he says is out of place, what is needed is leg- islation.
According to Omoregie, the Act will facilitate an overhaul of the Nigerian Police by re-orientating its personnel to move from its pre-colonial mission of being a ‘terror’ organisation designed to protect the authority, to offering protection to law abiding citi- zens. “Such reorientation should teach the person- nel to appreciate the fact that even a suspect cannot be pronounced guilty of a crime except by a court of law and to realise that it is their duty to respect the dignity of the suspect arrested or undergoing trial for a criminal act,” he concluded.
In Akwa Ibom, the experience is less terrifying, with Scanty reports of highhandedness, torture and detention without trial. The few reported cases have always been fairly treated by successive leadership of the Akwa Ibom State Police Command.
ThisNigeria investigation showed that the SARS in the state has gained mileage in investigation, quick response time, arrest and prosecution. On October 2, 2020, the state Commissioner of Police, Andrew Amiengheme, disclosed at the police headquarters that SARS operatives in the state killed a six-man armed robbery gang in a shoot-out along Calabar– Itu Road.
Reports also revealed that activities of the squad have contributed in stemming the tides of kidnap- ping, armed robbery and cybercrime in the state. The command’s public relations officer, Mr Odico Macdon told ThisNigeria that “the command has been carrying out periodic sensitisation of our op- eratives and that is why we have a low level of reported infractions, more so, the command shall continue to carry out reorientation exercises on our operatives.”
A youth leader from Eket Federal Constituency Mr Ebong Umofia, advocated for a holistic reform of all personnel in the unit instead of total disbandment. “SARS personnel have tried their best in reducing highway robberies in Nigeria but they need to be constantly sensitised and given regular reorientation and the bad eggs among them seriously sanctioned to serve as deterrent to others.”
Worried by the trend, the Inspector-General of Po- lice, IGP Mohammed Adamu, has called for a ban on the personnel of the FSARS and others including the Special Tactical Squad (STS), Intelligence Re- sponse Team (IRT), Anti-Cultism Squad and other Tactical Squads operating at the Federal, Zonal and Command levels, from carrying out routine pa- trols and other conventional low-risk duties such as stop and search duties, checkpoints, traffic checks, among others.
In a statement, Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, Frank Mba, a deputy commissioner of po- lice, said “The IGP’s directives came against the backdrop of findings by the leadership of the Force that a few personnel of the Tactical Squads hid un- der these guise to perpetrate all forms of illegal- ity, contrary to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Code of Conduct and Rules of Engagement establishing the squads.”
The IGP warned the Tactical Squads against the invasion of the privacy of citizens particularly through indiscriminate and unauthorised search of mobile phones, laptops and other smart devices, stating they were to concentrate and respond only to cases of armed robbery, kidnapping and other vio- lent crimes when the need arises.
Although the statement stated that the FSARs and other Police tactical squads remain critical com- ponents of the Force in confronting prevailing and emerging violent crimes in the country, the Police Chief, however, condemned every act of unprofes- sionalism, abuse of human rights and high-handed- ness by some personnel of the Squads.
He ordered that Commissioners of Police in charge of FSARS, Commissioners of Police in charge of State Commands and the FCT as well as their super- visory Zonal Assistant Inspectors General of Police, will be held liable for any misconduct within their Area of Responsibility (AOR).
