Despite several attempts at reforming its operations, excesses of the operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad unit of the Nigeria Police Force (SARS) have continued to fester.
Following the recent reported brutality of the operatives, there have been renewed calls by families of victims, prominent Nigerians, other citizens, local and international human rights groups on the need for outright disbandment of SARS or genuine reform to contend excesses of its operatives.
Daily Trust reports that whenever the operatives brutalise or kill unsuspecting people, relevant authorities would tell the world that they had taken actions including reforming the squad.
One of such pronouncements was the last week’s announcement by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, following growing anger in the wake of the alleged killing of a young man by SARS operatives in Lagos.
A statement signed by the Police Force Spokesman, Frank Mba, said, “The IGP has warned the tactical squads against the invasion of the privacy of citizens particularly through indiscriminate and the unauthorised search of mobile phones, laptops and other smart devices.
“They are to concentrate and respond only to cases of armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes when the need arises,” he said.
- Nigerians Speak
But many people who spoke on Tuesday in Abuja and other parts of the country said they saw the SARS operatives indulging in routine patrol including stop – and -search, perusing vehicle particulars and interrogating commuters even when there was no reported armed robbery or any other security breach around the area.
“I saw some SARS operatives around Jabi in their signature attire- plain T-shirt and trouser with a bulletproof vest on top,” a civil servant, who does not want his name in print, said.
“They have not been reformed in any way; they are still at their best extorting money from people by mounting checkpoints once it is 9 pm. They are also a willing tool in the hands of people willing to pay for their service,” he said.
In Bauchi, trader Aliyu Hamidu said they stopped his vehicle along Nabordo- Bauchi road. “They just looked through the window and then asked the driver to go out of the vehicle and open the boot…He later came in grumbling and zoomed off,” he said.
There were similar complaints from the southern part of Nigeria with motorists complaining of extortion by SARS even as they accused them of abandoning their core mandate.
- Another directive for SARS
On Tuesday, the IGP issued another statement banning policemen, especially SARS operatives across the country from searching people’s mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devices.
Efforts to get a comment from Mr. Mba on the continued excesses by the SARS operatives despite interventions from different quarters were not successful.
But he had during an Instagram Live Chat with Nigerian singer, Azeez Fashola, popularly called Naira Marley, that SARS cannot be scrapped because of the ongoing fight against crimes in the country.
Instead, he said that the police authorities were currently reforming the operations of SARS officers nationwide to curtail their excesses.
Naira Marley had on Monday, through his verified Twitter handle, mobilised Nigerian youth to go out en masse for a peaceful protest against SARS’ operations.
But when police authorities in Abuja reached out to him, they agreed to discuss the matter via Instagram chat.
Naira Marley who commands large followership on social media later stepped down the protest and asked his supporters to remain calm pending the outcome of the meeting.
During the Instagram conversation, Mba advised Nigerians to take video recordings of SARS operatives who abuse their fundamental human rights “as long as it is safe to do so.”
He said, “What we need to do is to reform SARS and make them responsive, responsible and make them work in accordance with laid down procedures. We need them to continue to respond to violent crimes. We need them to continue to respond to armed robberies. We need them to continue to respond to kidnappings.”
Also, Naira Marley agreed that the special arm of the police should not be scrapped but be reformed.
Daily Trust reports that despite discussing how to end SARS’ brutality, the #EndSARSNotBanSARS hashtag continued to trend on social media throughout Tuesday.
- “How SARS Operate”
In an interview with Daily Trust in 2017, former AIG Mike Okiro explained the working of SARS.
“They would take cover and communicate with walkie-talkies, hit the armed robbers. They did that two or three times, and the robbery attacks went down, drastically, and at a point stopped altogether.”
Okiro, however, observed that “Soon SARS started spreading from Lagos to other states. And I began to notice that at every roadblock, you will see armed policemen in mufti. Now, how do you differentiate between a policeman and an armed robber?
“But by the time it spread to other states, it seemed like anyone would be carrying arms, dressed in mufti, with a T-shirt with SARS emblazoned on it. Anybody can wear such an outfit. They even go into cases of bounced cheques and shady business transactions. SARS business is not to investigate, but to hit. It is a special anti-robbery squad, not an investigative one,” he said.
However, following several reports of human rights violation by members of the public, the then IGP, Solomon Arase, on August 7, 2015, announced that SARS had been split into two units- operational unit and investigation unit to curtail case of human rights violation.
Impunity reigns
Daily Trust checks show that the recent pronouncement by IGP Adamu was part of what could be described as a “ritual.”
In September 2018, following an outcry over SARS brutality, then IGP Ibrahim Idris issued a similar directive.
“You are barred from searching handsets and laptops of innocent citizens, unless the search is directly linked to a case or directed by IGP or any person or persons he so delegated,” the IGP had said.
Earlier in August 2018, then Acting-President, Yemi Osinbajo directed Idris to overhaul SARS.
Following the directive, Idris renamed the police outfit, Federal SARS (FSARS) and ordered operatives to go for psychiatric evaluation. He also ordered SARS to wear uniforms with identification tags.
In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered a total overhaul SARS.
On January 21, 2019, IGP Adamu ordered the immediate decentralisation of the squad, which had been at the force headquarters in Abuja.
The IGP also stated that the DIG in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department and Commissioners of Police in each state would be held accountable for FSARS’ indiscretions.
Last year, public outcry over the activities of FSARS led to the formation of a presidential panel to review the activities of the police unit.
Although President Buhari had ordered the implementation of the report of the panel, nothing seems to have changed since then until the recent directive.
- Amnesty International Reports
Since 2014, Amnesty International (AI) has documented widespread human rights violations including extrajudicial executions, torture, and other ill-treatment, rape and extortion by officers of the SARS.
In its latest report, the (AI) accused the Nigerian authorities for failing to tackle the impunity enjoyed by SARS “whose brutality and corruption is becoming increasingly brazen, despite repeated pledges to reform the police squad and investigate violations committed by its officers,”
According to the international organization, “last weekend, the Nigerian police announced yet another ban on routine patrols by SARS and other tactical squads of the Nigerian police, the fourth such ban in four years, amid growing anger over harassment and abuse by officers. The Minister of Police Affairs has also announced an investigation into infractions by the police unit.
“This is yet another lame attempt to rein in this unit of the Nigerian police which is notorious for the widespread torture and other ill-treatment of Nigerians. We have seen from bitter experience that past investigations into violations were either never carried out or marred by irregularities. To date, the Nigerian authorities have yet to show a genuine commitment to ending the lawless activities of SARS,” it said.
Similarly, Nigerians in their hundreds had periodically marched across major cities in the country, calling on the government to disband SARS, as well as to prosecute SARS officers who have perpetrated human rights violations.
- “Why reforms failed”
A retired Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Adenrele Tasheed Shinaba, said the previous attempts at reforming SARS failed due to improper enforcement.
Shinaba, who retired as the commandant of the Police Academy, Kano told Daily Trust that the squad had veered off its core mandate, which is to chase armed robbers in the country.
“Yes, it has been disbanded previously but when you give a directive, the enforcement is very important. It is not the IG that will enforce it, it is the officers on the ground; the DPOs, the area commanders and the commissioners,” he said.
To reform SARS, Shinaba said precedence should be given to the restoration of discipline among operatives of the squad.
“Discipline is key and that is what is lacking. They have to work on the discipline. You will see a situation where a SARS operative will wear a gold chain on his neck as if he is a musician. No, that is not the way they should dress. I agree they can operate incognito because of the nature of their operation but they have abused it.
“They should stop going after ‘yahoo boys’. The interest is the money that they will extort from those yahoo boys. That is not their business. They are to go after armed robbers. People are committing crimes, killing people but you leave them to chase these yahoo boys,” he said.
The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Tony Ojukwu commended IGP Adamu for banning FSARS and other tactical squads from embarking on routine searching of laptops and phones vehicle occupants amongst others.
Ojukwu said the order was in line with the commission’s recommendations following its report on the Presidential Investigation Panel on allegations of human rights violations against SARS.
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