END SARS Protests: All that you need to know

SARS stands for “Special Anti-Robbery Squad”. It was established in 1992 by former police commissioner Simeon Danladi Midenda, to combat armed robbery and other serious crimes. Nigerians have however lamented that the agency now deviates from its original functions and now arrests and subjects innocent citizens to inhumane treatments. As a result of this continuous happenings, the END SARS or #END SARS social movement begun against police brutality in Nigeria. 

Nigerians have shared both stories and video evidence of how members of SARS engaged in kidnapping, rape, murder, theft, torture, unlawful arrests, humiliation, unlawful detention, extrajudicial killings and extortion in Nigeria. A young lady by name Obianuju Iloanya shared on twitter how her brother who went for a naming ceremony in 2012 was arrested by SARS officials, his parents went to SARS office in Akwuzu Anambra to look for him and on getting there, they were informed that he wasn’t in any of the cells. When the parents were about leaving they saw new inmates beings led in and quickly identified their son. The mom screamed and informed the officer that her son was being led in, the head of the station CSP Nwafor James ordered them to be thrown out. They came back and he stated that he had killed Chijioke and nothing would be done about it. Till date no one knows whether chijioke is dead or alive. In 2012, the corpses of over 100 youths were dumped in Ezu river, and Chijioke’s father was made to swim through that river of dead bodies in order to get his son's body however he couldn’t find his son. CSP Nwafor was later appointed as an SSA by the governor of Anambra state. This position ensured that him and his family had the best of things. During the End Sars peaceful protests, it was revealed that he was responsible for the extrajudicial killing of over 100 youths dumped in Ezu river back in 2012. The attention of the government was drawn to this, and the governor of Anambra state sacked him as SSA and also stated that he would be prosecuted, however this hasn’t happened as CSP James Nwafor has been on the run. In September 2020, Ifeoma Abugu was at her fiance’s house and she was arrested by SARS officials. Apparently her fiance’s finances were under their inspection and since he wasn’t at the house they took her. The next day, they informed her family that she died. They stated that she was a drug addict and that she was on the bed when they arrived and that they took her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. The picture sent to the family showed an evidence of sexual abuse. Her family maintained that she was raped and murdered and pleaded to have an autopsy on the corpse but this wasn’t allowed. The SARS officials didn’t obtain the permission of their boss before going for that operation. Till date, no one has been prosecuted for her death. 

SARS officials have been alleged to profile youths based on their fashion choices, tattoos, and hairstyles, mount illegal road blocks and conduct unwarranted checks, arrest without warrant, rape women, and extort young Nigerians for driving exotic vehicles and using laptops and iphones.

It has been alleged that their favorite statement is “I go waste you now and nothing will happen”. This is translated in English to mean “I will kill you now and no one will do anything about it”. Painful stories surrounded the internet about the wicked activities of this group. Within a few days of the protest, the Nigerian Police force announced it was dissolving SARS, however the peaceful protesters noted that similar promises had been made for many years. They continued the protest and the Inspector general of police announced that a new body would be established going by the name SWAT. Nigerians stated that the same officers that were in SARS would be in the SWAT. However the IGP insisted otherwise. The protest continued, because they also noticed that the Social media handle of SARS had been changed to SWAT. They stated that they didn’t want any member of SARS to be involved. They wanted both SARS and SWAT to be dissolved, they wanted a new body to be created with different officials, and they also wanted the SARS officials who had been killed extra judicially to be prosecuted. 

On the 20th of October 2020, a 24 hour curfew was declared in Lagos state, however the protesters stated that they would remain at the lekki toll gate and not cause any problems. Later that day, it was observed that some men came and deactivated the billboard lights and cameras at lekki toll gate, it was rumored that the military were going to be deployed to that location. The protesters insisted that they would be peaceful and they would sing the national anthem. At night, the military arrived at the scene and opened fire, ignoring the fact that the protesters were holding the Nigerian flag. A lot of people lost their lives as a result. The next day, this event outraged the citizens of Nigeria and they began to destroy government owned properties all over the country, both police men and youths were killed. Some innocent people were killed by stray bullets, while others were killed by thugs and the others by police and army officials.  As a result, other states within the country declared curfews. On the 22nd of October, the president addressed Nigerians but failed to make mention of the shooting at Lekki toll gate. This outraged the citizens more, and more vandalism has ensued. The Lagos state government has however stated that it would start prosecutions against police officers for offences related to violation of human rights in Lagos state. The peaceful protests have been halted as a result of all the recent happenings. It is hoped that the Government of Nigeria would one day address the concerns of Nigerians.