By Stanley Ugagbe
The Month of October 2020 has perhaps opened the eyes of Nigerians particularly the youths to the ‘power of the people’.
In what started on Social Media as a mustard seed, the #EndSARS protest grew sporadically in the speed of light and became a full blown protest not just across Nigeria but in the Diasporas.
Following coordinated protests on Social media over the anomalies of the now defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and police brutality, Nigerian youths stormed streets across the nation to clamor for an end to the unit as well as police brutality.
The two-week long nationwide protests which significantly shook the nation also had Nigerians protesting in the Diasporas.
To drive home their agitations, the protesters’ mapped out five-point demand:
- Immediate release of all arrested protesters
- Justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensations for their families.
- Setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reported police misconduct within a period of 10 days
- Carrying out psychological evaluation and retaining of all disbanded SARS operatives before they can deployed (this should be verified by an independent body).
- The government should increase police salary and they should adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of the citizens
IGP Response:
Following the five-point demand, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.
A statement by Police PRO, Frank Mba said “In the finest spirit of democratic, citizen-centred and community policing, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has today, 11th October, 2020, dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) across the 36 State Police Commands and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where they hitherto existed”.
“The IGP, while noting that the dissolution of SARS is in response to the yearnings of the Nigerian people, observes that by this dissolution, all officers and men of the now defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad are being redeployed with immediate effect.
“The IGP notes that the Force is not oblivious of the ever present need to combat armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country which was before now the core mandate of the erstwhile Squad. He assures that a new policing arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps the dissolution of SARS would cause has been evolved and shall be announced in due course.
“Meanwhile, as part of measures to prevent a re-occurrence of events that gave rise to the dissolution of SARS, a Citizens’ and Strategic Stakeholders’ Forum is being formed to regularly interface with Police leadership at all levels and advise on police activities as they affect the general public”.
Presidential Panel Response:
In the heat of the protest, President Muhammadu Buhari set up a Presidential Panel to look into the issues of the protesters.
Following their meeting on the issues raised, the panel Okayed the 5-point-demand.
A communiqué of Stakeholders’ Meeting on the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Presidential Panel on the Reform of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) said: “Following the public protests regarding various forms of human rights violations by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the consequent disbandment of the unit by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, there arose the need for stakeholder engagement to build trust and restore public confidence in law enforcement.
“The agitations also brought to the fore, the need to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Panel on the Reform of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
“The Forum was addressed by the Inspector General of Police and the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission.
“The Forum collectively: welcomed the dissolution of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) by the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu; Reaffirmed the constitutional rights of Nigerians to peaceful assembly and protest; Further affirmed the sanctity of life of every Nigerian and the role of the Police in protecting this right; Affirms that the five-point demands of the protesters and the ENDSARS movement are genuine concerns and will be addressed by the Government.’’
Why the Protests continued:
Despite the disbandment of the dreaded SARS unit and the promises of the Presidential Reform, the protests continued. According to the protesters, the reasons included the immediate introduction of a new unit called SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) to replace the defunct SARS as well as what they called ‘nonchalant attitude’ of the government to implement their demands. Also, some escalated the demands to include ending bad governance, insecurity but to mention a few.
Protest Dead End:
As the protest lingered, lives were being lost and mammoth properties being destroyed. However, the peak of the protest was on 20th of October when personnel of the Nigerian Army shot at peaceful protesters at Lekki Tollgate in Lagos, killing yet to be indentified numbers and fatally injuring many – a development that reverberated negatively across the globe and has elicited reactions from different international bodies including the United Nations and the European Union.
The deadly attack on the protesters at the Lekki Tollgate resulted in the mass destruction of properties across the nation and killing of many including police officers.
It should also be noted that various states have so far instituted a judicial panel to look into cases of police brutality with a view to bringing culprits to book.
