by
Anthony Ayotunde Olayoku
The foremost duty of the Nigerian government in protecting the lives and properties of its citizens was well spelled out in 14(2) (b) of the Constitution which states that ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. The primacy of security in governance is not limited to democratic governance as even within monarchies of the past, leaders felt the responsibility to protect their people from both external attacks which threaten the kingdom’s sovereignty and internal strife through devised conflict management mechanism. Within democracies, the three arms of government – the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive – all have their roles to play with the legislative arm enacting laws to create and regulate security agencies, the judiciary interpreting the laws and ensuring their enforcement, and the executive that is charged with general administration through the implementation of these laws.
The provision of the constitution thus touches directly on the responsibility of the executive which is largely empowered to deploy state agents, most notably the military and the police to ensuring the country’s security. The focus of this discussion will be on the latter, officially known as the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) which has been riddled with controversial incidents recently. Kelling (2020) noted that the police is the body that signifies the civil authority of the government. He further opined that the duties of the police cover the maintenance of public order and safety; law enforcement; as well as the prevention, detection, and investigation of criminal activities. Therefore, the police as representatives of the government should help maintain peace in the society and ensure that, people to a large extent, go about their businesses peacefully and fearlessly.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) was established in section 214, of the 1999 Constitution. The section, among other things, provided that “There shall be a Police Force for Nigeria, which shall be known as the Nigeria Police Force, and subject to the provision of this section no other Police Force shall be established for the Federation or any part thereof.” Among the duties outlined to be performed by the NPF, is that of the protection of lives and property. To ensure this, the NPF is divided into several departments including Finance and Administration, Logistics and Supply, Operations, and Crime Investigation to mention but a few. The Force Crime and Investigation Department, which is germane in the provision of security, consists of other subdivisions. These subdivisions are Administration, Anti-Fraud Section, The Central Criminal Registry (CCR), Special Enquiry Bureau, X-Squad, General Investigation, Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Legal Section, Forensic Science, Interpol, Homicide, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, CIB/SIB Force CID Annex Kaduna and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
In an interview given by Mike Okiro, the former Inspector General of Police, SARS was created in Lagos in the year 1991 due to the activities of armed robbery gangs, particularly due to the notoriety of that led by Shina Rambo. He further added that the creation of SARS was a joint initiative of himself as the Deputy Commissioner of Police and the then Lagos State Commissioner of Police. The reason for creating SARS was thus to ensure that there was an element of surprise to bring down these notorious robbers, and it initially yielded positive results. Hence, the SARS unit of the police force was created with the specific aim of eradicating armed robbery in Lagos State. However, though SARS started operations in Lagos, its activities have been extended to other states in the country. SARS was a unit that instilled fear into the heart of the criminals. Personally, as a young boy growing up in Nigeria, I admired the SARS division as the Nigerian equivalent of the S.W.A.T unit of the United States that swings into action when a particular scenario escalates beyond the capacity of patrol police officers. The SARS unit was well respected in the past when they were not the “everyday” unit of the police force that has recently been identified with stigmatizing people. They were the nightmares of solely criminals- hardened criminals – and Nigerian citizens felt safer within their communities with their presence. Of recent, however, this is no longer the case.
Reported incidents in the media have shown that the perception of SARS has shifted from an arm of the NPF focused on security to preying on innocent Nigerian youths that are extorted with unsubstantiated allegations of criminality. This is aptly captured by the recent calls to dissolve the SARS unit in the police force, especially through the hashtag #ENDSARS which has been trending for some time. As a matter of fact, there are a whole lot of cases of human rights abuses committed by SARS (especially against youths) that have been reported through the social media especially on Twitter. Young folks, especially university students, have narrated stories of their different encounters with this police unit, with another sad incident taking placerecently on Saturday, October 3, where a young man was killed by the operatives in Ughelli, Delta state. The stories have led some to question whether it is now a crime to be a young man in Nigeria. The belief is that a young man, neatly dressed, with a nice haircut, using an iPhone, with or without a car, risks being harassed with allegations of being a ‘Yahoo Boy’ (fraudster) by SARS officials without substantial evidence.
Several media stories have been accompanied with video evidence, which shows graphic illustrations of the brutal treatments Nigerian citizens suffer when they encounter these police agents. In extreme cases, officials of the SARS Unit have publicly shot at individuals who did not pose direct threats, with some incidents leading to death, with some sort of confidence that strikes fear in witnesses of these scenes. Some reports have it that some SARS operatives now lead young people to ATMs while trying to extort money from them. From personal experience in 2016, a SARS operative directly threatened a woman on the highway by saying “if I kill you here, nobody will find you”. Such an utterance clearly reflected the deteriorating state of affairs when one considers the operations of this police unit.
The government has the prime role of making sure that this unit is reformed and more responsive to the clamour citizens. In deference to the efforts of the Federal Government, there have been steps taken to reform the activities of the SARS operatives nationwide. The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, on Monday October 5, released an order and other directives banning the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad and other Tactical squads of the Force from operating in mufti, while stating the resolve to make them accountable for human rights abuses resulting from unprofessional conduct. While this is commendable, such efforts have been made in the past including in 2018, when Vice President Osinbajo who was acting as the president at the time ordered the review of SARS activities by the then IGP, Ibrahim Idris, leading to a ban on their stop and search activities. The desired results, however, were not met. One could only hope that the government put appropriate implementation structures in place to ensure that their statements become reality. The Nigerian Police Force should enforce its accountability mechanisms to check the excesses of SARS operatives and members of other Task Force Units to ensure that they conform to the new directives of the Inspector General of Police.
It is also worthy of mention that the Nigerian citizens, especially the youths, should cooperate with the NPF during their legitimate operations to ensure the security of lives and property in the country.
References
Daily Trust – How, why we created SARS – Ex-IGP Mike Okiro. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2020, from https://dailytrust.com/how-why-we-created-sars-ex-igp-mike-okiro
EndSARS: Police bans SARS from carrying out routine patrols | Nairametrics. (2018). Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://nairametrics.com/2020/10/04/endsars-police-bans-sars-from-carrying-out-routine-patrols/
Kelling, L. G. (2020, September 1). police | Definition, History, Organizations, & Facts | Britannica. Retrieved October 1, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/police
Nigeria Police Force | IGPSEC. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2020, from https://www.npf.gov.ng/aboutus/History_Nigeria_Police.php
Nigeria: SARS overhaul is positive step but reforms must be robust | Amnesty International. (2018). Retrieved October 5, 2020, from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/08/nigeria-sars-overhaul-is-positive-step-but-reforms-must-be-robust/
The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, As Amended