Nigerian youths have continued their protests against police brutality by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit of the Nigeria police.
The protests, which have been generally peaceful in many Nigerian states except in Delta state where a policeman was killed during the protest.
The youths have been angered by several extrajudicial killings of Nigerian youths by this police unit, which harass, extort money and shoot them if they refuse to comply with their requests.
This treatment of the youths have been going on for years without any meaningful checks by the police authorities.
In his reaction to the protests, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, on Friday summoned the Inspector General of Police for briefing on the nationwide protests by the youths.
According to local media reports, President Buhari directed the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu to address the concerns of Nigerians and reform SARS unit.
“The IG already has my firm instructions to conclusively address the concerns of Nigerians regarding these excesses, & ensure erring personnel are brought to justice,” he said.
“I appeal for patience and calm, even as Nigerians freely exercise their right to peacefully make their views known.
“I met again with the IGP tonight. Our determination to reform the police should never be in doubt. I am being briefed regularly on the reform efforts ongoing to end police brutality and unethical conduct, and ensure that the Police are fully accountable to the people.
“The vast majority of men and women of the Nigeria Police Force are patriotic and committed to protecting the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians, and we will continue to support them to do their job,” Buhari said in a statement on Friday.
The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the police force was put together to tackle robbery and crimes related to armed robbery within the country, but the unit has for quite a while been overreaching in its operations across the nation.
Without any legislation or order, the unit has morphed itself into some form of anti-graft agency, harassing many young Nigerians, especially men who spot dreadlocks and other forms of fancy head styles.
What would have been associated with culture and the arts, seemed to have been labeled a criminal act by SARS officials, one which operatives of the unit on routine patrols have reportedly tackled either by extorting various individuals or killing them in the name of attempting to arrest them for crimes that never get disclosed nor tried.
More often than not, encounters between men of the SARS unit and the civilian populace have ended in infringements of rights and a show of lawlessness on the part of those who swore to uphold the law and protect the citizens.
But in Lagos and some other cities across the country, the youths have resumed their protests in spite of the appeal for calm by the Nigerian President, demanding the scrapping of the unit and not reforms.
The placard-carrying protesters chanted “EndSARS” as they marched through the streets of Lagos peacefully.
On Friday, the protesters were at the Government House in Lagos to lodge their complaints against the police unit. The protesters in Abuja and other states also demanded the dismantling of the police unit and the total reform of the Nigeria police.
GIK/APA