Global human rights organisation, Amnesty International, and promoters of #EndSARS Campaigns have said that the reform of the operations of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad by the Federal Government may not end the wrongdoings of the operatives of the squad, insisting that SARS should be completely scrapped.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo had, last week, directed the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to immediately overhaul the management and activities of SARS, following persistent complaints and reports of abuse of human rights, torture and many other wrongdoings allegedly perpetrated by men and officers of the squad.
Osinbajo had instructed the police boss to ensure that any unit that would emerge from the reform process should be intelligence-driven and restricted to the prevention and detection of armed robbery and kidnapping as well as the apprehension of offenders linked to the stated offences, and nothing more.
But the NGO and #EndSARS campaigners said it would be difficult for the police to reform the squad because the force, as a whole, was guilty of what its unit, SARS had been accused of.
Order by Osinbajo showed a high sense of leadership, but the police will find it difficult to reform SARS
Speaking in Osogbo, the spokesperson of Amnesty International in Nigeria, Mr. Yisa Sanusi, hailed the Acting President for the steps taken, but expressed doubt on the success of the reform process.
According to him, the squad has been enmeshed in corruption and abuse so much so that it will be difficult for the force to overhaul it successfully, adding that changing the name of the squad will not help to resolve the havoc it has been causing.
While arguing that there had been more complaints in the Southern part of Nigeria, Sanusi called for the punishment of the bad eggs in SARS.
“The order by the Acting President showed a high sense of leadership, but the police will find it difficult to reform SARS. The investigation might end the same way other pronouncements went. The intention might be good, but it must be robust, thorough and meet international standard. We are going to monitor the overhauling,” he
said.
On his own part, the convener of #EndSARS, Segun Awosanya, said that SARS deserved total scrapping and not mere reform.
Awosanya said, “The government has failed us. The police have the ability and moral standing to investigate and overhaul the squad. We have heard such pronouncements before now, but nothing concrete has come out of it. It has been political pronouncements.
“Our EndSARS campaigns did not mean changing SARS name or reforming it, but it’s outright scrapping. The military does not understand democracy. SARS needs to go! Nonetheless, we will monitor the process of the reform. SARS operatives are not supposed to be found on the road. They are supposed to respond to distress call and act accordingly. Police can’t reform SARS.”
Meanwhile, Awosanya urged the police to set up a committee of professionals outside the force, who would navigate the force and totally overhaul it.
Also speaking, one of the non-governmental organisations advocating for police reform, CLEEN Foundation, has said it would ensure strict compliance and concerted efforts of all and sundry.
The Executive Director of the NGO, Dr. Benson Olugbo, said the entire police force should be overhauled and not SARS alone, adding, “This rot is not only in SARS.”
Olugbo said police had been grossly underfunded and that there was nothing to write home about on the welfare of the rank and file in
the force.
