Inspector General of Police, Mohemmed Adamu, Sunday dissolved the activities and operations of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), following massive protests that rocked the nation.
Nigerians have campaigned for days, for the disbandment of SARS, following reports that some elements in the force, use their positions to commit various crimes.
They have been accused of misdemeanor and felonies crimes, which they have worked out freely without being charged or imprisoned.
Most Nigerian ladies have been assaulted, raped and beaten. Young boys in other hands have been man handled, dehumanized and killed for no just cause.
Miffed with all of these, Nigerian youths embarked in a serious campaign with hashtag, ENDSARSNOW, ENDSARS, WEDONTNEEDSARS, ENDPOLICEBRUTALITY, etc, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and Police IG to terminate SARS operation.
Tired of the pressure from various quarters in the country, Adamu, bowed and dissolved SARS, noting that all officers and men of the now defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad are being redeployed with immediate effect.
His full statement:
In the finest spirit of democratic, citizen-centred and community policing, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has today, 11th October, 2020, dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) across the 36 State Police Commands and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where they hitherto existed.
The IGP, while noting that the dissolution of SARS is in response to the yearnings of the Nigerian people, observes that by this dissolution, all officers and men of the now defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad are being redeployed with immediate effect.
The IGP notes that the Force is not oblivious of the ever present need to combat armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country which was before now the core mandate of the erstwhile Squad.
He assures that a new policing arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps the dissolution of SARS would cause has been evolved and shall be announced in due course.
Meanwhile, as part of measures to prevent a re-occurrence of events that gave rise to the dissolution of SARS, a Citizens’ and Strategic Stakeholders’ Forum is being formed to regularly interface with Police leadership at all levels.