Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), an arm of the Nigeria Police, has been dissolved by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Adamu.
The special unit of the police was created to tackle to the menace of armed robbery in the country, but officials of SARS have been accused of brutalising innocent citizens, extorting money from them and also subjecting them to torture and something carrying out extrajudicial killings.
The excesses of the police group in recently sparked protests across the country and made the hash-tag #EndSARS to trend worldwide, with different personalities joining in the campaign.
Pleas by President Muhammadu Buhari and the police chief that the unit would be reformed were rejected by the demonstrators, who insisted that it must be scrapped. This is because, according to them, several promises in the past that the unit would be reformed were never fulfilled.
On Sunday, Mr Adamu addressed Nigerians and announced the scrapping of SARS.
