SUNDAY DARE, the Nigerian Minister of Youth and Sport, has joined the call for reform in the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force, saying the youth have been at “the receiving end” of police brutality.
Dare said this in a tweet on his official Twitter page on Sunday as Nigerians continue to call for the disbandment of SARS and reform of the Police.
Dare said Nigerian youths deserve protection and not decimation adding that they have been at the receiving end of the misconducts of operatives of SARS.
According to the minister, the government has commenced the process for the reform of the FSARS, urging that the process must be followed through.
“I join the REFORM SARS NOW call! The process has started & should be followed through. Youth have been heard! Youth are the ones on the receiving end of the nefarious activities of bad SARS officers. Youth deserve protection, not decimation. Government is committed to protecting the youth,” Dare tweeted.
If we stigmatize our youth as criminals, paint them all with one brush as ‘yahoo boys ‘within our boarders, harass, attack & arrest them indiscriminately even before they get D chance to defend themselves-aren’t we as a country destroying their reputation and chances to succeed?
— Sunday Dare (@SundayDareSD) October 4, 2020
Other prominent Nigerians and political office holders have supported the call for reform in SARS and the Nigeria Police System.
Addressing protesters in Lagos state on Friday, Obafemi Hamzat, the Lagos State deputy governor narrated his experience with the operatives of the FSARS before he became a deputy governor.
“Every decent Nigerian will be upset. This happened to me four years ago. I was going to Amuwo Odofin, they (SARS operatives) were not in uniform, they had guns, they just double-crossed us and said we should get out,” said Hamzat.
He added that “security operatives cannot trample on the rights of law-abiding citizens because they are carrying laptops or iPhones. It is wrong for any officer to expressly pronounce someone, irrespective of age, guilty because they have locks or ride luxury vehicles”.
Taking the same stand on SARS reform, Nigerian senators on Friday lamented the varieties of misconduct perpetrated by the operatives.
During the plenary, George Sekibo representing Rivers East senatorial district said ‘SARS members are agents of corruption. They extort money from innocent people and lock people up arbitrarily. They are not VIOs; they will go ahead to ask for a driving license. That is not their function. They must face their functions.
He added that the special squad has turned their back against the nation saying that it is the right time to do something about them.
Shehu Sani, a former senator who represented Kaduna central in the 8th Assembly while lending his voice to the call for disbandment of the FSARS also faulted the activities of the operatives.
“A state-funded agency should not be allowed to notoriously and cruelly breach fundamental rights and unleash violence against the people it’s constitutionally mandated to serve. Law enforcement means enforcement of the law according to the law,” said Sani.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94