SUNDAY Dare, the Nigerian Minister of Youth and Sport says Muhammed Adamu, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), has assured him of deep reforms and sanctioning of officers in the Nigerian Police Force.
The Minister disclosed this on Monday morning in a post on his official Twitter handle concerning the recent calls by Nigerians to the Federal Government to disband the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) over alleged misconducts of SARS operatives against members of the public.
“This morning I visited the IGP for further discussions on the activities of FSARS and the need to end the harassment, profiling, and dehumanization of our youth by some bad officers. IGP gave strong assurances on deep reforms, sanctioning of officers and protection of the youth,” Dare tweeted.
Following a massive social media outcry by Nigerians against the excesses of operatives of the SARS, the IGP on Sunday suspended the Special Tactical Squads (STS) from routine patrols.
“With this ban, the Police personnel are to desist from, “carrying out routine patrols, and other low-risk duties – stop and search duties, checkpoints, mounting of roadblocks, traffic checks, etc. with immediate effect,” the IGP said in a statement by Frank Mba, Force Public Relations Officer.
The IGP also activated a nationwide Monitoring Unit of the NPF to ensure enforcement of the suspension.
However, some Nigerians are unsatisfied with the suspension arguing that the FSARS had earlier been suspended in 2018 but the suspension was not implemented.
A former Nigerian Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili on Monday also called on Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari to desist from mere announcements and ‘act decisively’.
“Nigeria President who as C-in-C (Commander in Chief of the Armed forces) directly supervises the Nigeria Police, should stop merely announcing measures that failed to change the behaviour of SARS Rogue Police officers in the past.
“For once, act decisively to preserve the lives of your citizens. Serious solutions, please,” Ezekwesili tweeted.
In a video accompanied by the tweet, Ezekwesili further stated that ‘If so many voices are complaining about the same entity in the government, we must investigate thoroughly and in an independent way to find what the problems are so that we can solve them. That is good governance.’
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94