Nigerians on social media are calling on Police authorities to scrap the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, popularly known by the acronym SARS, following allegations of several incidents of brutality, abuse and harassment by its operatives.
The demand for an end to SARS dominated Twitter activities by Nigerians, during which citizens used #EndSARS to list allegations of extra-judicial killings, wanton arrests and dispossession of properties through physical assault and other intimidation tactics.
While some shared videos of police brutality, others narrated sad tales of how they have been maltreated one way or the other, calling for an end to SARS.
The social media campaign comes a year after Amnesty International accused SARS of torturing detainees in its custody to extract confession or lucrative bribes under duress.
A look at the hashtag #EndSARS, which has been trending at number one since Saturday, suggests that the segment of Nigerian population that appears regularly targeted by SARS includes young men who bear laptops on the road.
Thousands of complaints by citizens, who said they had been victims of SARS officers, have been shared while those who have not personally encountered SARS told tales of how their friends and loved ones had suffered at one point.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Police Force Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit, (PCRRU) has announced the opening of channels through which the public can report complaints about SARS.
The PCRRU, using its official Twitter handle, asked Nigerians to feels free to voice there complains about the operations of SARS.
“Do you have any complaints about your contact with SARS? You don’t need to know their names, all we need you to provide are details of the occurrence (action/act) with DATE, TIME & PLACE. Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) #BailisFree #NoToImpunity. Please share this message,” the tweet read.
The channels listed on the poster are, 08057000001 and 08057000001 for calls; 08057000003 for SMS and WhatsApp messages; 2BA2B5DE for BlackBerry messages with the assurance that all complains will be treated swiftly.
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