SARS officers profile youths largely based on appearance; mount illegal roadblocks, stop and search, arrest without warrant, rape women, extort young Nigerians for driving exotic vehicles, and using iPhones.
Comedian Steve Chuks said
I’ve been a victim of SARS brutality way too many times in this country and for what? Being a good looking young man that dresses well... isn’t that madness??
These men don’t serve us rather they brutalize and traumatize us constantly without fear. Nobody talks about the PTSDS we have talk less of the deaths. THIS IS MUST STOP! We must win this fight against their brutality and injustice!
Kudos to everyone out there protesting and everyone online tweeting and posting. Please do not stop! Do whatever you can to lend a voice! #EndSARS #endpolicebrutality #endsarsbrutality 🇳🇬 🇳🇬.
The big question is how do we stop police brutality in Nigeria?
It is on the news, the #endsars protest going on in Nigeria is about ending police brutality. The big question is how do we stop police brutality in Nigeria? so innocent citizens can stay alive.
Heavy punishment and heavy punishment for those to lie and cover it up for the offenders. If they are smart then they will eventually catch on. Also laws that clealy outline “what NOT to do. (sort of like the policies that they ignore like the banned choke hold.,.. only with the force of LAW behind it. )
ReplyDeleteIn the short term: consequences. Over the long term, there needs to be a thorough review of the number and functions of security agencies in Nigeria. Most importantly, Nigerians will have to decide what the proper roles of our security agencies are. We must also define the rights that civilians have in relations with them.
ReplyDeleteThe Presidential panel agreed to the following:
The abolition of the SARS unit. Apparently, they are to be replaced by a ‘SWAT’ unit.
They endorsed a constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
A panel to investigate human rights violations.
Psychological evaluation and training for police officers.
A promise to meet the five demands of the protesters, namely:
The release of detained protesters.
Justice for victims of police brutality.
Prosecution of indicted police.
Police retraining.
Police salary increase.
So far, so generic. There have been no resignations. There is no question about the continued duplication of Federal Agencies, we already have a ‘Human Rights Commission’. Civilians have been gunned down at the protests, allegedly, by normal police. Apparently, we lack a forensics unit capable of determining if the bullet came from service-issue guns. In the 21st-century, we are reduced to protesters claiming the police shot and the police claiming that it was actually criminal infiltrators. I fear that the new ‘SWAT’ officers will be simply told to avoid certain demographics while everybody else is fair game.
Remember when the army wiped out a Shiite settlement for daring to interfere with the COAS’s convoy. The Nigerian Airforce is conducting bombing runs against bandits across the country. Of course, as bandits, some might say that they deserve extrajudicial murder in their own country. But, seeing as the Airforce once accidentally bombed a refugee camp, should we not be more circumspect about their weekly releases of ‘scores killed’ in bombing runs. How about the sizeable number of people shot by customs officials? Or the stories of torture and murder by DSS officers? I could go on forever.
I hate to be an armchair general, but global zeitgeist be damned. Nigeria does not have a ‘police brutality’ problem. Its problem is that its security agencies (God knows how many) have never been acclimated to civilian authority. They are trained to demand submission from civilian targets. Anything short of deference is met with violence. They are also overly militarised. Making matters worse, they have the same problem of duplicated duties that plagues the Nigerian State. Until we become interested the fundamental questions of how to rightly run our country, I will stay a pessimist.
Thank your for sharing and bringing awareness to this. I've seen a little bit on Sars but didn't know anything about it. It's terrible what's happening.
ReplyDeleteJennifer
Curated by Jennifer
We have to find a way to stop police brutality in America, before we can stop police brutality in any other country
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this on Traffic Jam Weekend! It has been chosen as a fave feature for this week's party that went live on Thursday at 5:00 pm CST.
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