Establishing public safety is among any government’s fundamental obligations to its citizens. The safety of lives and properties is widely viewed as a basic, endogenous human right and is essential to the community’s overall welfare. When the citizenry is not, and does not feel, reasonably safe, other critical government functions such as economic development, government finance, public education, stable housing, and basic local government services become largely compromised. In short, a community’s reputation for public safety hugely impacts its overall appeal as a place to raise a family or open a business.
In Nigeria, policing services can be traced back to the colonial era. In essence, policing in Nigeria has always reflected the trend in society at a very particular time. During the colonial era, the primary purpose of the police was to advance the economic and political agenda of the colonialist. In many areas, the police engaged in the brutal subjugation of communities and the suppression of resistance to colonial rule. Thus, the use of violence and repression from the beginning of the colonial era marked a dislocation in the relationship between the police and local communities, which has characterized law enforcement practices in Nigeria ever since.
This largely absolves the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari of any blames over the current state of the police force which has seen one of its tactical units, set up in the 90s, to specifically deal with cases of armed robbery, thus the name, Special Anti Robbery Squad(SARS) come under heavy condemnations in recent times.
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad was founded in late 1992 by former police commissioner Simeon Danladi Midenda. The major reason SARS was formed was when Col. Rindam of the Nigerian Army was killed by police officers at a checkpoint in Lagos in September 1992, later leading to the arrest of three officers.[When the information reached the army, soldiers were dispatched into the streets of Lagos in search of any police officer. The Nigerian police withdrew from checkpoints, security areas and other points of interest for criminals, some police officers were said to have resigned while others fled for their lives. Due to the absence of police for two weeks crime rate increased and SARS was formed with only 15 officers operating in the shadows without knowledge of the army while monitoring police radio chatters.
Due to the existence of already established three anti-robbery squad which was operational at that time, Midenda needed to distinguish his squad from the already existing teams. Midenda named his team Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). After months of dialogue the Nigerian Army and the Nigeria Police Force came to an understanding and official police duties began again in Lagos. The SARS unit was officially commissioned in Lagos following a ceasefire by the army after settlement.
However, in recent years, as mentioned above, SARS has been accused of brutality, extreme use of force, extrajudicial killings, illegal detentions amongst other vices, prompting widespread public out cry for an outright ban of the security apparatus, under the umbrella of the #EndSARS campaign.
End Special Anti-Robbery Squad (End SARS) or #EndSARS is a social movement in Nigeria that started on Twitter calling for banning of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, a unit of the Nigerian Police Force. It is a call to end police oppression and brutality in Nigeria. The protests started as a social media campaign using the hashtag #ENDSARS to demand for Nigeria’s government to scrap and end the deployment of Nigeria Police Force Special Anti-Robbery Squad, popularly known as SARS. Within a weekend (9-11 October, 2020), the #ENDSARS hashtag had up to 28million tweets. Nigerians have shared both stories and video evidence of how members of SARS engaged in kidnapping, murder, theft, rape, torture, unlawful arrests, high-handedness, humiliation, unlawful detention, extrajudicial killings, and extortion.
SARS officers profile youths largely based on appearance, mount illegal road blocks, stop and search, arrest without warrant, rape women, extort young Nigerians for driving exotic vehicles and using iPhones. While some claimed victory as the Nigerian Police Force dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad on Sunday, October 11, 2020, others noted similar promises had been made in recent years and the government planned to reassign SARS officers rather than eliminate them entirely.
The Youths have thus placed five requests before the Federal government as conditions for bringing the ongoing protests to a halt.
The requests are:
Immediate release of all arrested protesters
Justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families
Setting up an independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all reports of police misconduct(within 10 days)
In line withe the new Police Act, Psychological evaluations and retraining(to be confirmed by an independent body) of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed
Increasing of Police salary so they are adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of the citizens
The campaign has gained wild attention, both locally and internationally, This piece will attempt to touch, briefly, how things have fared so far within the different terrains of this campaign
EndSARS Protests in Lagos
Nigerian youths protested on EndSARS at the Lagos State Governor’s House on Thursday 8 October and slept at the gate of the government house till Friday 9 October 2020 when the Deputy Governor addressed the protesters. Among The Lagos State EndSARS Protesters Where Celebrities Like Falz, Runtown, Don Jazzy, Olu Jacobs and a host of others including several comedians, and different media personalities.
EndSARS Protests in Abuja
On Friday 9 October 2020, Nigerian youths protested on EndSARS at the headquarters of Nigeria Police Force in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and vow to camp at headquarters till Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, addresses them. While the protest continued on Saturday 10 October 2020, the Nigerian police started dispersing the youths with tear gas and water. The co-convener of Bring Back Our Girls Aisha Yesufu and other protesters was reportedly manhandled by the Nigerian police.
On Sunday 11 October 2020, David Adeleke, a popular musician known as Davido joined a group of #EndSARS protesters for the call to end police brutality and the notorious police unit in Abuja. The police started dispersing the protesters with tear gas, live bullets and water cannons.
International Protests
International demonstrations were organized by the Nigerian diaspora in Europe, North America, and elsewhere in Africa. Many Nigerian and Nigerian diaspora celebrities gave supportive statements on social media and took part in protests, while demonstrators pledged to continue until the demands were met.
EndSARS Protest in London
On Sunday 11 October 2020, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun, a Nigerian singer known as Wizkid and many other Nigerians led a protest in support of the EndSARS protest at the Nigeria High Commission, Thai Square, London. It has been reported that Wizkid has called out the Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari on Twitter over his silence on scrapping the notorious police unit.
EndSARS Protest in New York
On Sunday,11 October 2020, young Nigerians in New York converged at the Nigerian Consulate General in Midtown to protest against SARS. They shared their experiences with SARS while in Nigeria and asked that the outfit be totally disbanded so that young people can move freely without being profiled as criminals because of their dressing, accent or the type of vehicle they use.
#EndSARS Global Trending
On October 9, 2020, the #EndSARS hashtag trended globally on social media. EndSARS protests, which started October 8, 2020, are still ongoing in major cities across the country and have attracted international mainstream media attention. The campaign has witnessed reactions on social media from international celebrities such as Cardi B, Trey Songz, Big Sean, John Boyega, Kanye West amongst others including footballers, Marcus Rashford and Mesut Ozil
With the news that SARS had been banned, Nigerians took the news with a grain of salt and focused more on their demands. The hashtag on social media then changed from #EndSARS to #SARSMustEnd!
As at the time of writing this piece, words on the streets suggest the youths are still focused on their demands and are willing to work in tandem with the Federal Goverment in reworking the Nigeria Police Force, repositioning it for effective policing, while catalyzing the emergence of Nigeria as a more functioning society
