Tunji Bakare( not real names) like every well-meaning Nigerian is determined to make a living. He goes in search of his daily bread. As a digital marketer, the laptop is his work tool. Unknowing to him, he was going to be a magnet for the Nigerian police force. His dreadlocks seemed to make him more culpable of their speculations that he was a ‘yahoo’ boy aka internet fraudster.
The first time he was accosted by the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS), he was walking down his street on his way home from work in Lagos. Without evidence or any justification, his laptop and phones were seized. How would he defend himself from these armed men? He knew better to play along than claim his rights less he faced harassment or injuries. He would have spent that night in prison if he had not ‘bailed’ himself that day. Tunji’s experience is not peculiar to himself. Thousands of young Nigerians have been victimised by the now dreaded police squad.
In a society where the police are supposed to friends, they appear to constitute a nuisance and trample on human rights. Now, people are tired and voicing ‘Enough is enough’- There must be an end to this continuous police brutality. The #EndSars Movement which began on social media has taken into the streets with prominent Nigerians at the forefronts. The rationale is clear. The public demonstrations are calling for the scrapping of the anti-crime unit of the Nigerian police force. They have been accused of extortion, harassment, robbery, intimidation, and extra-judicial killings. The movement carried by mostly Nigerian youths expects the Nigerian parliament to revisit the Police amendment bill.
This public uproar has been trending with Nigerian celebrities joining in the national discourse. This is not the first outcry. Since inception, there has been a call for the revisitation of the relevance of the police squad. But how did SARS come about? In the 1980s, Nigerians lived in fear with the incessant robbery attacks. They scampered for safety. Their homes, the bank premises, and the highways were always targeted by the men of the underworld. With the rise in robbery attacks, there was a public outcry for security measures to be put in place. This forced the police to set up the special squad of policemen to curb the menace of robbers in the country.
The whole idea was for SARS officials armed and dressed in mufti to be unnoticed to suspects. They were to take cover and communicate with walkie-talkies and take on armed robbers. However, it appears the squad have taken the law into their hands and are acting in ways for their self-interest.
Tunji’s experience in the hands of SARS is one of the many cases. If a citizen is denied his/her human rights and subjected to unnecessary torture, it goes without saying that the police have failed in their national duty. Some youths have not been so lucky, and many have not come out alive to tell the stories. A police officer should not violate the rights of people including criminals. Would it be better to scrap and reform the entire police force to end the abuse of human rights?
Written by Patricia Uyeh