Why Nigerians are protesting to #EndSARS again
Three days ago, many Nigerians were jolted by the news of another SARS brutality in Sagamu, an Ogun town less than 60km from Lagos. This time around, a young player and Remo Star assistant captain, Tiamiyu Kazeem a.k.a Kaka was killed by SARS operatives along Sagamu-Abeokuta Road. The death of the rising footballer whose father says was on the verge of securing a deal in a European club, unsettled hundreds of residents who took to the streets to protest for justice. The protest did not end well. More casualties were recorded as five people reportedly lost their lives, including 2 police officers.
The sad incident raised a further outcry and revived the movement to #ENDSARS which began in 2016 as an advocacy campaign on social media to demand an end to SARS brutality and ultimately scrap the unit from the Nigeria Police Force. The campaign had succeeded in gaining the attention of the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo who promised that the group will be reformed. There was some respite in the months that followed, but it was short-lived as some SARS operatives returned to their old ways in no time.
As many young people become victims of SARS brutality, a much bigger question is beginning to get louder. Is the unit still relevant and do Nigerians feel like they need SARS protection against armed robbers or violent crimes? #EndSARS offers an urgent answer.
A young Yabatech student, Adekola Lawal believes Nigerians will be better off without SARS.
“We don’t need these murderers,” he said with fierce anger. “They said they are fighting armed robbers, tell me the last time any armed robber killed a youth in this country. I don’t know who we should be more afraid of between both of them. They [SARS] should be scrapped”
“I wish I can do more than register my displeasure over the way the force and its men have treated Nigerians like slaves. For lack of appreciable statistics, I dare say that more Nigerians are maimed and killed by policemen yearly than are killed by bandits,” Charles said.
Over the past four years, SARS has been at the forefront of growing and needless brutality targeted at young unarmed Nigerians. Their crime? Mostly none. Amnesty International acknowledged the issue in a 2016 report where it accused SARS officers of “regularly detaining young people unlawfully in Nigeria and extorting money from their families”.
Almost every young person living in Lagos, Nigeria’s megacity has experienced SARS brutality and extortion directly or indirectly. Many in various cities across the country have had their own share of the menace as well.
Going by its antics, it’s hard to recount the benefits of SARS even as police authorities insist that rogue operatives are the ones bent on giving the unit a bad name. There’s the belief that the group is creating more problems for young people than solving any security challenges facing the country, hence the call for its disbandment.
