The End SARS Movement and the Threat to Human Rights
Words Dorothy Adu
With a lack of news coverage and political tactics which deny the police brutality happening in Nigeria, you might only be aware of SARS (the Special Anti-Robbery Squad) from the trending global hashtag on Twitter ‘EndSARS’. Founder of Law City Dorothy Adu-Mfum discusses the End SARS movement and why this is a threat to human rights.
ShutterstockWhat is SARS and why are people protesting?
SARS is a unit of the Nigerian Police force, established in 1992 to combat robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes. Despite initially being formed to protect civilians from prevalent crimes, this unit has been widely accused of human rights violations, rape, extrajudicial killings and torture. It is also known for profiling young people who are seen in flashy cars, with iPhones, dreads or tattoos as criminals.
Police brutality by SARS has been an issue for many years. However, recent protesting began on the 8th of October 2020 due to a widely shared video on social media, showing the SARS unit allegedly shooting a man in Nigeria’s Delta State. Since then, thousands of youths have taken to the streets in solidarity, throughout Nigeria, calling for the abolishment of SARS. This has now developed into a greater movement, highlighting bad governance and corruption in Nigeria, with the demand for extensive reforms in all areas of Nigerian life including employment, education and infrastructure.
Alongside public figures like Burna Boy, Jack Dorsey, Marcus Rashford, Beyoncé and Hillary Clinton, Odion Jude Ighalo recently condemned the police brutality and corruption in Nigeria, stating:
“I am ashamed of this government; we are tired of you guys and we can’t take this anymore.”
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari attempted to address the issues and quell the protesting by promising comprehensive reform and compensation for the victims of police brutality. These reforms included replacing the SARS unit with the rebranded SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team. However, this was rejected by the Nigerian population who stated that these changes had already been attempted on four occasions, incorporated police from the corrupt SARS unit, and were not enough to reform the police.
ShutterstockWhy is it a threat to human rights?
On Tuesday, 20th of October 2020, Nigerian soldiers allegedly opened fire on peaceful protestors in Lekki toll gate in Lagos after mass demonstrations brought the city to a standstill.
A 24-hour curfew was imposed earlier that day by governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in Lagos state starting from 4 pm that day. This was accompanied by an announcement from the national police force stating that it will deploy an anti-riot police squad nationwide “to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians and secure critical infrastructure across the country”. At around 7 pm that evening, graphic scenes of protesters being shot by men in army uniforms flooded social media. Thousands of people also tuned in to popular musician DJ Switch’s Instagram live, where they witnessed bullets being removed from the bodies of protesters and reports of several others killed.
It is currently unclear the exact number of people killed on Tuesday due to the lack of accountability of the Nigerian government. However, Amnesty International stated that it “received credible but disturbing evidence of excessive use of force occasioning deaths of protesters at Lekki tollgate”
Why is this a human rights issue?
Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to education and more. Bad governance in Nigeria has resulted in many of these rights being threatened. Concerning SARS, Amnesty International, the world's leading human rights organisation originally accused SARS officials in a report in 2016 of regularly detaining young Nigerians illegally and extorting money from their relatives. The report revealed detention centres across Nigeria where victims were tortured and forced to confess to crimes they did not commit.
Years after, we are still a long way away from police reform; however, we have never seen so much unity amongst the youth in Nigeria. This is now gaining global attention and hopefully, valuable support.
Dorothy Adu - Founder of Law City