Barely few days after a viral video of a young man killed by operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), went viral on the internet, there has been #EndSARS protests in several Nigerian cities, calling for the Police unit to be disbanded.
Operatives of the SARS have been accused of unlawful arrests, torture and murder of Nigerian youths. Over the years, the Nigerian government had promised to effect change in commitment of the Police, which had been nothing but empty promises.
Last week Friday, tear gas was fired at protesters, who were agitating against Police brutality, in the capital city of the country, Nigeria. The actions of the police have been condemned by several celebrities such as Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, Burna Boy and a host of others.
International football stars like Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, Anthony Rudiger, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and others have tweeted in support of #EndSARS. International celebrities like Cardi B, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Trey Songz, Big Sean, John Boyega, Chance The Rapper have also supported the #EndSARS protests.
In a reaction to the #EndSARS protests happening across the nation, the Nigerian government, through the Inspector General of Police (IGP) released a statement, dissolving the entire SARS unit. Check his full statement as summarised below;
While this was seen as a temporary win by many Nigerians, it hasn’t stopped protesters from making further demands from the government. This is on the backdrop that similar promises have been made in the past to disband the unit, only to resurface again.
Recall that in 2018, the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo tweeted that he had directed that the “management and activities of Sars” be overhauled “with immediate effect”. This directive was not implemented.
Currently, protesters are still on the streets of major cities in Nigeria making further demands despite the dissolution of the SARS unit. Their demands are summarized in the image below;
