Police Terrorism

About seven years ago when I first heard of the acronym SARS, during a tête-à-tête with some friends at a café in Lagos, I felt like a stranger in Moscow. As the chat continued, I was able to understand the meaning of the police unit as Special Anti-Robbery Squad. Expectedly, the name defines the core goal of the squad’s operations – to work against ALL robbery-related matters. Also, if the name of the police team is anything to go by, then raiding of the citizens should never be a practice of the unit. After all, the name of the group is not Special Citizens Raiding Squad.

Practically in the past half a decade, anti-robbery operations are hardly the concerns or interests of SARS officers in Lagos. Innocent residents and hikers are now the main goals of their raids. In several locations in the state, the common man is now a prey while SARS officers remain the legal predators. In my experience, more than 35 persons who I know or heard of had been unjustifiably arrested by SARS officers on the streets without any evidence and they were forced to pay several thousands in order to gain their freedom within few hours.

In cases where such requested cash could not be made available, the individuals (their preys) would be detained in police stations as suspects or get transferred to prisons in order to await trials for no crime. Since officers in the squad are like German shepherds in the Nigeria Police, whatever allegation filed against a citizen is inarguably justifiable in police record. It would only take the intervention of God and intellectual diligence of a lawyer to turn around the table of SARS’s fake allegation(s) before a judge.

With specialisation of SARS officers in raiding the innocent, it becomes necessary to rename the unit. In addition to the exploitation of the weak, it is clear that no government agency is in existence for monitoring the money-making raids of SARS. Without ado, the society believe that the activities of the unit makes it equal to a Special Advanced Robbery Squad.

Why? In the course of its illegal operations, the innocent are robbed of their liberty, peace, fund, expectation, hope and belief in Nigeria. Based on the experiences and opinions on the streets, Superior Advanced Robbery Squad is a better identification. Whatever the name it deserves, to a common Nigerian, officers in SARS unit are now like what Osama bin Laden of Al-Qaeda was to the United States; they are the supremoes and lords who can manufacture a crime and endorse it with seal of government’s authenticity.

At this point, a case needs to be cited. One Sunday at around 5:12 p.m., a friend of mine called Diplomatic (not his actual name) was asked a question by an unknown man while walking on a street in Ayóbó, Ipaja, Lagos. The inquirer asked, “Please do you know any of the guys who used to organise betting on this street?” To the question, Diplomatic responded, “Well, I don’t know anyone around here but I think some guys used to gather at the beginning of this street. But I don’t know them nor their purpose.” Because the inquirer seemed to listen with interest, Diplomatic continued, “You should ask shop operators on the street. They would know better.” He concluded. Immediately Diplomatic finished his last utterance, what he experienced was like a Nollywood movie. The inquirer accused him of being a suspect and suddenly other SARS officers emerged from a vehicle parked nearby on the street. His mobile phones, bag, wallet and other things were taken. He was handcuffed, pushed into their vehicle.

From Ayóbó in Ipaja, Diplomatic was taken to PWD, Ikeja. About two hours later, he was miraculously given a phone (not his phone) to call anyone for help. Why was it a miracle? SARS officers always keep their preys for days before he would be given a phone to call for help. Because Diplomatic knows his father’s mobile number off hand, he got in touch with him. With the assistance of his daddy’s lawyer, he was freed some hours later but his freedom was not freely regained. Some thousands were paid in naira to the predators in the Nigeria Police.

In fact, I recently heard of three different situations when free and innocent Nigerian citizens were coerced to pay 200,000 naira (presently equivalent to $555) to gain his freedom after three weeks in SARS’s detention. Ironically, the federal government of the country proudly pays 19,000 naira ($53) to a worker as the national monthly wage.

With these examples, are SARS officers terrorists? Your understanding would determine your answer to the question. It is on record that Nigeria is a sovereign state but in the hands of SARS operatives, it is no doubt a colonial territory for exploiting the populace with the misuse of the law.

Akinlolú-Prime Samuelo

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