The SARS’ unending menace amid rising clamour for disbandment

Nigerians are again up against the dreaded police unit better known as Force Special Antirobbery Squad (FSARS). The #ENDSARS protests that swept across the country 2 years ago over rights violations and extra-judicial killings by the police unit resurged a week ago with more strident calls and protests to compel the police authorities to disband the ‘murderous gang in police uniform’.

This perhaps compelled the Inspector-general of Police, (IGP) Mohammed Adamu to announced that the personnel of FSARS and other Tactical Squads of the Force including the Special Tactical Squad (STS), Intelligence Response Team (IRT), AntiCultism Squad and other Tactical Squads operating at the Federal, Zonal and Command levels, have been banned from carrying out routine patrols and other conventional low-risk duties - stop and search duties, checkpoints, mounting of roadblocks, traffic checks, etc - with immediate effect.

This was contained in a statement issued on Sunday October 4, by Force Public Relations Officer Frank Mba (DCP), stressing that in addition, no personnel of the Force is authorized to embark on patrols or tactical assignments in mufti.

The Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also condemned the brutality of the police, stressing that the federal government will take urgent steps to address the menace. Following a similar public outcry two years ago, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on 14th August 2018 directed an immediate reform of SARS. The Vice President also ordered the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to set up a judicial panel to investigate their activities. But as usual with most things Nigerian, nothing has come out of these.

So, it appears these feeble measures by government to tame the monster have produced nothing and Nigerians are becoming increasingly difficult to assuage, hence the heightened demand for complete disbandment of the outfit.

On Thursday, October 8, 2020, civil society groups stormed various police formations across the nation in the ENDSARS protests threatening to sustain the agitations until the SARS is disbanded.

In Abuja, the nations’ capital, protesters demanding the dissolution of the SARS stormed the force headquarters and demanded a meeting with the Inspector-general of Police, Mohammed Adamu.

The #ENDSARS campaigners gathered at the Shehu Shagari Way, shouting ‘ENDSARS,’ and disrupted vehicular traffic. They also brandished placards with the various inscriptions calling for the end of SARS.

The protesters poured red liquid on the road to illustrate the killings and bloodshed by SARS operatives, many of whom have been indicted for rights violations, including extra-judicial killings, extortion, illegal detention and other misconduct.

Among the activists, were #Revolutionnow protests convener, Omoyele Sowore, #Bringbackourgirls member, Aisha Yesufu, Deji Adeyanju of Concerned Nigerians and others. They insisted that the tactical squad must be scrapped.

DCP Frank Mba, told the protesters that the force authorities have initiated the necessary reforms to curb the illegal activities of the FSARS operatives but they are not enticed by such words and have vowed to continue the protests.

According to experts, SARS has failed to live up to expectations of curbing crime, for which it was set up but instead has changed into a killing outfit that perpetrates heinous abuses against Nigerian citizens including foreigners.

A security expert, Majeed Dahiru, blamed the failure of SARS on the way and manner the outfit was created during the military era and the inability to redirect the unit to conform to the norms of civil democracy.

He said “SARS is actually a creation of military regime in the mid 90s. Is it a unit in the police force set up to tackle armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes in a manner that may not always be in line with laid down procedures of civil policing because of the expediencies of the time. So, it was reasoned then that the police force being a civil security outfit that operates within the confines of rules and regulations in order to enforce law and order may not be adequate to contain the spate of rising crimes in the 90s. It was reasoned that instead of arresting and prosecuting violent criminals, it was better to eliminate them all together. So, in essence an element of the operations of the SARS is extra-judicial killing, they were licensed to kill albeit in an extra – judiciary manner.”

He added that “but once Nigeria transited into a civil democratic rule, SARS ordinarily should have been reformed, in fact the entire police apparatus should have be reformed so that it can contain, combat and tackle criminal activities without going outside the confines of laid down rules and regulations of civil policing. This has not been done in the case of SARS. “SARS has become very notorious for killing Nigerians that are sometimes innocent of some of the allegations against them. Elements within this unit of the police appear to now use their privileged position to further their own person interests and have now become a murderous police force, now terrorizing the Nigerian people rather than protecting them.”

Majeed believes that Nigerians have continued to bemoan their fate as the existence of SARS has not stopped increase in violent criminal activities. He added that SARS appears to have become a monster that has defied even those who created it, which is indicative of a deeper problem within the Nigerian police force.

“It simply means that the Nigeria police force is incapable of reforming itself and that is why people are calling for outright disbandment of SARS,” he lamented.

He called for a total overhaul of the operations of the Nigerian police force and not just SARS. He however, noted that it will be in the interest of Nigeria for the leaders of the police to move quickly disband SARS.” Majeed added that “The latest move by government will not change anything unless we reform the police holistically across board and not only SARS because it is not only SARS that carries out extra-judicial killings.”

On the effects of the brazen insecurity perpetrated by SARS on the economy, the Expert said “You cannot have this kind of insecurity environment and expect people to come in and invest in the country either as tourists to spend their money or investors when you do not have a proper policing outfit.

“The best PR for the image of a country is the police force because it is the police that come in contact with all and sundry including foreigners, tourists’ and well as investors. When the police are as bad as Nigerian police, that is a PR disaster.

“So, the police need to be reformed because it is directly linked to the economy. Security is fundamental because the purpose for the existence of any nation is economy. Welfare and security are the key components of an economy, without adequate security you cannot have a good economy that will provide welfare for the people,” he noted.

Also speaking, veteran security analyst and columnist, Ben Okezie, said the idea that gave birth to SARS was a noble and novel because it has a major purpose of fighting violent crime.

“SARS was good at a stage and at a stage they were banned. This is not the first time they were completely banned and later on there was need for it again when robbers started gearing up and SARS was brought back. When they brought them back, those who brought them back lost the template.

“The original template was that mobile policemen were the once that were recruited into SARS because of their training and discipline. But along the way, some of the conventional police men – those who do stop and search on the road and collecting money from people started looking for a way of finding themselves enlisted into SARS.

“My finding is that these are the ones that came in and corrupted the real SARS and these are the ones that started these abuses. They came in through the back door to get into SARS some of them pay bribe to be enlisted.”

Okezie does not want SARS to be disbanded but suggested that all the bad eggs in the unit should be identified and purged adding that they should also be prosecuted. He noted that there should also be a code of conduct for all SARS members and there should be constant monitoring of the men of the police.

Former media aide to late President Umoru Musa Yar’adua, Segun Adeniyi, while writing his disgust at the SARS scourge, quoted Amnesty International report released on 26th June 2020 entitled, ‘Time to end impunity: Torture and other human rights violations by Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS)’, which documented cases of extrajudicial executions, sexual violence, torture, extortion and other heinous crime perpetrated against Nigerians without the government holding them to account.