The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a police unit created in 1992 by Simeon Danladi Midenda, a retired Commissioner of Police in Lagos has outlived its existence and should be disbanded immediately. It is time to defenestrate its amoral personnel, reform those amenable and throw the books at the criminals in their ranks.
When SARS was created, there were already three Anti-Robbery Squads operating in Lagos – Force CID at Alagbon Close, Zone Two Command and at Panti, Lagos state CID. There were also special anti-robbery squad units in each state police command.
Midenda’s unit, however, was “special”, it lent it some mystic. They operated in plain clothes and drove unmarked cars unlike regular police patrol teams. They did not visibly carry guns or walkie-talkies; the idea was to blend in. Intelligence and surprise were their most potent weapons.
Operatives though were always fully combatant, remained undercover and monitored all police communications. When there was a reported robbery, they laid in wait to capture the fleeing robbers. At other times, they simply captured them on their beds, hotels or other leisure places. They did not interface with the public, didn’t stop people on the streets or pry their phones. They relied on intelligence, smart police investigation and were the most successful unit in the police. This is why it was replicated at every police command in Nigeria.
That SARS is history. In its place is the stuff of nightmares. Hiding in plain sight which helped them fight crime has become a tool to harass Nigerians. They are dreaded more than armed robbers.
Thus the directive by Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector General of Police, to close satellite offices created under the Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS) of SARS nationwide is unconvincing in a country where the order of the IGP carries the same efficacy as singing to a corpse and hoping it will dance. Removal of illegal checkpoints and withdrawal of police attached to VIPs is a stock in trade maiden speech of every new police chief.
It has taken the protests that followed the killing of Tiyamiyu Kazim, a footballer, for the IGP to order the closure of satellite offices created under the Zonal Intervention Squad (ZIS) of SARS nationwide.
In the past, more peaceful complaints and campaigns from the public yielded piecemeal measures such as the rebranding of SARS as Federal SARS which took orders from the police headquarters. Neither branding nor the closure of some offices can repair police unit gone rogue. You know our police force has gone to the dogs, when complaining to Segun Awosanya, a human rights activist is the most effective way to get justice.
The entire police force is long-overdue for reform. Compare the year-long protests in Hong Kong which resulted in two deaths, 7,300 arrests and over 2,600 injuries to the deaths that followed protests in Abeokuta and the sad video of Tiyamiyu’s father.
Shutting down some stations won’t do. The IG’s must provide clarity. Will the alleged killer police officers be brought to book? What happens to other notorious police formations including the Ogudu Police Station, Awkuzu, in Anambra State, Port Harcourt in Rivers State?
After years of protests like the #EndSARS campaign, #killSARS is trending lately. People are now tired of crying out and may be ready to take matters into their hands. This is a dangerous. To do nothing is to provoke mob action when next SARS officers misfire.
President Buhari must lead by example with radical action, beyond holding meetings with his security chiefs. Nigerians are living in fear from herdsmen, bandits, cultists, kidnappers, terrorists, and shockingly police officers.
