By Adedapo Adesanya
The Inspector-General of Police, Mr Muhammed Adamu, has ordered the dreaded special anti-robbery squad (SARS) to stop patrolling Nigerian roads after a widespread campaign to disband the group.
Over the weekend on the social media, the #ENDSARS campaign gained renewed traction with many personalities and celebrities kicking against the extortion and brutality being carried out by the police unit.
Mr Adamu in a statement released through the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Frank Mba, on Sunday said SARS and other tactical units within the police should cease patrol forthwith.
The statement noted that, henceforth, tactical squads, including Special Tactical Squad (STS), Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Anti-Cultism Squad and other tactical squads operating at the federal, zonal and command levels have been banned from carrying out routine patrols and other conventional low-risk duties – stop and search duties, checkpoints, mounting of roadblocks, traffic checks, etc – with immediate effect.
The announcement follows a public call by Nigerians demanding the immediate scrapping of SARS after multiple extra-judicial deaths were linked to roger elements using the unit’s cover.
Campaign to #EndSARS has been recurring advocacy in Nigeria since 2017, but the police failed to resolve issues relating to it despite multiple pronouncements.
Also in 2018, the police said the unit would be reorganised, but no visible changes could be seen even after the federal government gave the directive.
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare and other voices including former Vice President, Mr Abubakar Atiku alongside pop stars, Ayo Wizkid Balogun and David Davido Adeleke condemned SARS notoriety and demanded an urgent reform of the unit, which faces allegations from armed robbery, kidnapping, extortion, blackmail, racketeering and even murder.
